


fj«B 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.}- 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J 



i 







PULPIT SKETCHES, 



SERMONS, 



©®V®13®If Ai» FE4M1M 



J 

BY REV. JOHN NEWLAND MAFFITT ; 

Of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



BOSTON. 

T. R. MARVIN, 32 CONGRESS STREET. \ 

1828. ''• 






.VA33 



DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS to wit : 

District Clerk's Office. 

Be it remembered, that on the twenty fourth day of March, A. D. 1828, 
in the fifty second Year of the Independence of the United States of 
America, Theophilus R. Marvin, of the said District, has deposited 
in this Office the Title of a Book, the Right whereof he claims as 
Proprietor, in the Words following, to wit : 

Pulpit Sketches, Sermons, and Devotional Fragments. By Rev. John 
Newland Maffitt, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, enti- 
tled " An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies 
of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, 
during the times therein mentioned :" and also to an Act entitled " An 
Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the encouragement of 
learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books to the authors 
( and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and ex- 
tending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching 
historical and other prints." 

Tivrrk wr rvA\7-Tc ( Clerk of the District 
JNO. W. DAVIS, j f ^ tM ,,„,^ 



\ 



PREFACE, 



Tf any writings may plead exemption from 
the frost of criticism, they are those which seek 
a shelter under the altar. When men, whose 
business is literature and supreme object fame, 
take up the pen, the critical world have a right 
to arraign their pretensions, weigh their claims, 
and sit in solemn judgment upon their pro- 
ductions. Yet let the humble writer, whose 
design is to reanimate the latent fires of devo- 
tion, and turn the earth born thoughts heaven- 
ward, be spared the rigors of a tribunal which, 
unlike the posthumous inquest of Egypt, de- 
cides the fate of the living as well as the dead. 



IV 

The minister, who cultivates a sincere desire 
to benefit his fellow men to the extent of his 
voice and pen in the brief period of his exist- 
ence, should never feel the dread of a literary 
inquisition, damping his zeal, or abating his 
energy. To a higher tribunal than that of 
letters is he amenable ; at which it may ap- 
pear that the boding cry and the raven wing 
of criticism have induced many to bury in 
inglorious sloth the talents committed to their 
improvement. 

It is not expected that the pulpit sketches 
and devotional fragments of one whose head 
does not yet bear the snows of time, will be 
prominent sources of instruction and pleasure 
to age and experience ; yet mature years, it is 
hoped, will find nothing repulsive to wisdom 
or the clear views of advanced life in thoughts 
chiefly drawn from the ancient oracles of God. 
But the improvement of the young, the bloom- 
ing pride and future hope of our beloved 
country, was not unconnected with the design 



of these sketches and fragments. There is a 
season in life when the thoughts are indisposed 
to encounter the deep things of theology ; a 
syllogism fails to be comprehended, and a sub- 
tle deduction is a weariness to the elastic 
spirit — yet the eye will rest pleasantly on the 
lighter lessons of divinity, and the mind will 
rove with a degree of satisfaction through the 
green, flowering fields of holy literature, or 
along the side of " still waters." 

It is possible there may be a chasm in the 
theological writings of the present day, of the 
more engaging class of moral and devotional 
compositions, which these sketches are destined 
to fill. There is enough of argument in the 
church, and the " sacramental host" is envel- 
oped in the dust of a thousand champions in 
polemics ; the boundary lines of denomination 
are explored and rectified with unerring sci- 
ence, and " Greek meets Greek" on the neu- 
tral ground ; the church scarcely can desire a 
greater deluge of religious intelligence than 



VI 

that which rolls, at the present moment, to her 
extreme borders ; yet the questions arise with 
unusual emphasis — Does the voice of conso- 
lation sufficiently mingle with, and temper, 
the thunder of warfare and the majestic move- 
ments of the age ? Does the sound of the 
summonings, the trumpetings and the rousing 
up of this last great crusade, intermit to the 
music of the christian charities and the home 
virtues ? 

To furnish a token of friendship, a gift of 
affection, a book of devotional sketches for the 
vestry and the social evening meeting — -to 
extend and perpetuate his ministerial labors 
among a people dearly beloved, — have been 
the author's motives that gave birth to this 
book ; and it is fearlessly as well as affection- 
ately committed to the keeping of those who 
know how to make deductions for the imper- 
fections of any human production. 

Not unmindful of that day, when every 
work shall be subject to the investigations and 



Vll 

decisions of eternity, the author dedicates this 
book to the cause of piety ; and he would 
place it near the holy altar of that church 
whose walls are salvation, and whose gates 
praise. 

Boston, April, 1828. 



CONTENTS. 



PULPIT SKETCHES. 



Sketch on Hebrews, xi. 24, 25 








Page. 
13 


John, v. 39 . 








25 


Matthew, xxvi. 38 








36 


1 Corinthians, xv. 25 








46 


James, i. 27 . 








5S 


Genesis, xxviii. 17 








67 


Revelation, xiv. 6 . 








74 


2 Timothy, iv. 7 . 
Acts, xiii. 41 . 








85 
93 


Daniel, iv. 13, 14 . 








103 


Ezekiel, xxxvii. 4 . 








113 


The Judgment Day, 








123 



SERMONS. 



A Sermon delivered Sept. 24, 1823, at the Dedication 
of the Methodist Chapel, Nantucket, 



135 



A Sermon delivered at Dover, New Hampshire, Fast 
Day, April 13, 1826, 



Page. 



153 



ADDRESSES. 

Address delivered before the New England Conference 

Missionary Society, June 9, 1825, . . 169 

Address delivered before the New England Conference 

Missionary Society, June, 1826, . . . 177 



DEVOTIONAL FRAGMENTS. 

Devotion, 187 

An Evening in Europe, 188 

Lines on the death of Rev. Dr. Payson, of Portland, 

Maine, 190 

Sonnet, 191 

The Departed Year.— 1827, 192 

Sonnet, 194 

Lines on the death of Rev. John Hutchinson, of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, who died in 

Boston, Dec. 1827— aged 21, 195 

Sonnet, 196 

Dedicatory Hymn, 197 

De Witt Clinton, . 198 

Memory, 200 

The Death of an Infant, 200 

The Sun of Righteousness, . . . . . 201 

The Remembrance of the Past is Sweet, . . 202 

The Sabbath Scholars, 203 

Religion a Source of Happiness, .... 205 

The Funeral ........ 206 



XI 

Page. 

The Gospel, 209 

The Law, 210 

Time never returns, 211 

Signs of the Times, . . . . . . 212 

Religion is Love, 217 

To Youth, 218 

The Death of Friends, . 222 

Spring, 224 

May, .226 

The Gospel of the Kingdom, . . " . . . 227 

Maternity, 229 

The Buried Alive, 230 

Jacob, 232 

Saint Paul, 233 

The Contrast, . . . . . 235 

Death, . 237 

Time, 238 

Happiness, 239 

Adams and Jefferson, ....... 242 

Profanation of the Sabbath, 244 

Sabbath Schools, 249 

Independence, 250 

Woman, 251 

All is Vanity, 253 

The Future, 254 

Jesus Christ, 256 

The Star of Bethlehem, 260 

The Voice of Consolation, . . .. . . 261 

The Retrospect, 263 

The Bible, 266 

The Ministerial Character, 268 

The World, ........ 269 

The Death Bed, . . . . . . . 270 

A Portrait, 271 

The Glory of God, 273 

Reliance on God, ....... 274 

The Change of Worlds, ...... 275 

Christian Courage, 277 



Xll 

Page. 

The Dissolution, 280 

The Influence of the Holy Spirit, .... 282 

The Mind, 286 

The Warning Voice, 286 

The Ministers of Christ, 287 

The Return of Spring, 289 

Presumption, 290 

Rural Retirement, 291 

The Jubilee, 293 

The Resting Place, ...... 294 

The Minister's Consolation, 295 



PULPIT SKETCHES. 



By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the 
son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer affliction 
with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a 
season. — Heb. xi. 24, 25. 

The history of Moses is the finest specimen of 
bold, graphic and illustrious biography to be found in 
the volume of inspiration. The character of this won- 
derful man is drawn with great accuracy and skill. 
It is a glowing portrait of the majesty of virtue, and 
the magnanimity of a high minded patriot and devoted 
servant of God. 

We are not called to the contemplation of a bold 
adventurer, preying upon the liberties of his fellow 
men, or glorying in the distresses which his avaricious 
hand had wrought — nor of another Alexander, waging 
war with the whole world, reeking with the blood of 
millions, and towering above his compeers in all the 
haughtiness of a vain glorious, ostentatious pride. 
We contemplate a man raised to the pinnacle of 
earthly grandeur, surrounded by courtly friends, and 
2 



14 

with the prospect before him of bearing an imperial 
sceptre — yet voluntarily renouncing these flattering 
distinctions, giving up every claim to empire, and 
casting his lot with a poor, despised and persecuted 
people. 

MOSES. 

The early history of this man of God is distin- 
guished by the gracious interpositions of divine provi- 
dence. Influenced by the God of Israel, his parents 
preserved the beautiful infant when his life was mena- 
ced by the cruel edict of Pharaoh, and while he was 
exposed to the watery element, in a bark of rushes, 
a mysterious power provided for his safety ; a royal 
hand snatched him from his frail bed, and committed 
him to his own mother's bosom ; and, under maternal 
guardianship, he grew up in the fear and love of the 
God of his fathers. 

When he had attained a proper age, he was in- 
troduced to all the luxuries and blandishments of 
Pharaoh's court. Philosophers and statesmen were 
invested with the care of his education. He became 
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was 
mighty in word and deed. Initiated in the schools of 
the Magi, he became an eminent scholar and a pro- 
found statesman. As one of the princes of Egypt, 
the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, the presump- 
tive heir of a crown and regal honors, he was placed 
far above want — he moved in a circle brightened by 
the countenance of the great, the wise, and the noble ; 
yet he was not intoxicated by royal favor, nor seduced 
by the allurements of ambition. The gilded phan- 



15 

tasies which floated around him, the brilliant smiles 
and heartless protestations were incapable of chaining 
his mind or enslaving his noble powers. High and 
holy was his calling. He, therefore, rejected every 
thing intervening between him and his God, or the 
mighty purpose which labored in his breast — even the 
deliverance of his Hebrew brethren from captivity and 
death. For this purpose he yielded himself up a 
willing victim to all the consequences of an act which, 
in the estimation of human policy, would appear in- 
consideration or extreme rashness. 

The feelings of many are respondent only to the 
glare and tinsel of earth. Riches captivate their 
imagination, titles feed their vanity, the flatteries of 
the great are music in their ears, the principles of 
truth and the beauty of religion they either impiously 
outrage or wholly disregard. An unexpected eleva- 
tion in life fills them with ideas of their own importance, 
and a desire to bury forever the thoughts of their for- 
mer insignificance and poverty. But neither noble- 
ness of birth, the shout of applause, nor the possession 
of wealth, can confer goodness or implant virtue in the 
soul. Virtue springs not from earth ; it has not its 
origin in gold and silver, in honor or dishonor ; and 
he who would base his fortunes on such frail materials, 
is building on sand. Art thou noble by birth — has 
fortune thrown over thee a radiated light, or a gem- 
med coronet ? Oh, remember there is a nobler ances- 
try than mouldy parchments confirm. There are 
riches that can never waste away, and a laurel wreath 
that withers not. Art thou poor, despised and broken 



16 

hearted ? The Lord of the universe is thy friend ; 
and if thou hast taken him for thy portion, thou art 
rich indeed. The treasures of kings are but dross 
when compared to thine ; thy riches shall endure 
when crowns and sceptres shall have crumbled into 
dust ; thou hast an heirship to an immortal, glorious 
kingdom, under a heavenly meridian. 

To proceed — Moses refused to be called the son of 
Pharaoh's daughter — he was in the maturity of man- 
hood, fully adequate to the task of examining and 
choosing for himself when he took this decisive and 
honorable step. He was, says the inspired historian, 
full forty years of age — a period in the life of man 
when ambition often usurps unlimited power over the 
mind. Besides, he was basking in the sunshine of 
royal favor, and breathing the fascinating air of a pal- 
ace. The value- this great man placed upon these 
empty, earthly vanities, stamps him at once a saint 
and a hero. With a precision more than human, be 
penetrated every principle of their nature, proved them 
to be false, hollow, unsatisfying ; and, spurning their 
united efforts to beguile and ensnare him, with a manly 
energy shook off the gilded fetters and proclaimed 
himself free. 

These considerations alone, however weighty, were 
not the only ones in view of which he acted. Moses, 
to have acknowledged his title, would have been re- 
quired to relinquish the religion of his fathers, and 
forfeit his birthright as one of the children of Abraham. 
The decided manner in which Moses refused to be 
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, commands our 



17 

admiration. The sacrifice was great — it was unpre- 
cedented ! Behold him throwing off the imperial 
purple, divesting himself of the gaudy trappings of 
distinction — eyeing the sceptre, the crown, the throne, 
with indifference ; while from his bright elevation he 
extends his view to his enslaved countrymen, turning 
his back upon an impious, idolatrous, yet seductive 
court, he descended from the eminence of kings with 
a noble and majestic mien ; he chose the road to the 
poor cottages of the oppressed Israelites. 

HIS CHOICE. 

And now we find Moses among the people of God. 
Here the children of Israel are emphatically denom- 
inated the people of God. A more sublime title could 
not have been given them. The historian leaves the 
constrast between the subjects and honors of an earthly 
potentate, and the simple epithet — people of God — to 
be filled up by the contemplative mind. 

The condition of Israel's descendants at this time 
was deplorable. Their cup was full of bitterness. A 
lamentation rose continually over murdered innocents 
throughout distracted Goshen. A deep horror had 
seized upon their senses. They were despised, trod- 
den down and insulted. Sorely galled with the heavy 
yoke and bleeding from the lash of their hard task- 
masters, they wept before the Lord, and their cry 
pierced the heavens. Jehovah was not unmindful of 
their sufferings ; in all their affliction he was afflicted, 
and the angel of his presence saved them ; in his love 
and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them 
2* 



18 

and carried them all the days of old. His eye was 
fixed intensely upon them, and his hand was stretched 
out to remove the cloud that hung around their hopes. 
He pronounced them his people — a peculiar people — 
a chosen nation — a people for whom was held in re- 
version a well watered, fruitful country — the rich, beau- 
tiful Canaan, the garden of the earth. A people 
whose protector, comforter and guide was the mighty 
God of Jacob. For as an eagle stirreth up her nest, 
fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, 
taketh them, beareth them on her wings ; so the Lord 
alone did lead them, and there was no strange god 
with them. A people through whom all the families 
of the earth were to be made glad, and by whose in- 
strumentality the river of life should overflow its banks 
and refresh the nations ; — a people for whose deliv- 
erance Egypt was enveloped with darkness, the Nile 
crimsoned with blood, the atmosphere darkened with 
insects, and a realm clothed in sackcloth for all the 
first born of man smitten with sudden and unexpected 
death ; — a people over whose fortunes rose a peerless 
star, gleaming fiery wrath to their enemies, but shed- 
ding, over the path of the dismayed and crest-fallen, 
light, direction and security. Thy right hand, O Lord, 
is "become glorious in power : thy right hand, O 
Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. Thou, in thy 
mercy, hast led forth the people which thou hast re- 
deemed : thou hast guided them in thy strength unto 
thy holy habitation. 

These were the people of his choice. Unlike the 
soft and effeminate, he chose to suffer affliction with 



19 

them. He did not join them for the loaves and fishes, 
or to gratify a love of ease. No ; he purposed, if he 
could not break their iron yoke, to share their bondage, 
participate in their toils, abide their fate ; in short, to 
cleave to them and them only in weal or wo. 

Many there are who mate themselves with religion 
when she wears a lovely aspect, lifts her head above 
the clouds, and walks in the high places of the earth ; 
but when she is arrayed in the drapery of sorrow, 
when around her plays the lightning, rolls the thun- 
der, and a persecuting world are in arms against 
her, — then these craven friends are not — they are 
shaken off by the tempest — the trumpet's spirit-stirring 
voice hath swept them away. 

Not so with Moses.- — Were the people of God af- 
flicted — were they universally despised — were they 
destined to die in the field of battle, — the purposes of 
his steady soul would respond to their dying accents, 
and victory or death hung on his lips, was written on 
his brow, flamed from his burnished shield, and flashed 
from his spear. 

WHAT INFLUENCED HIS CHOICE. 

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused 
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He be- 
lieved in God. This fundamental principle of his holy 
religion was deeply imprinted in his soul ; it preserved 
him from being seduced by the most fascinating lures 
that earth can hold out to man. It was faith that in- 
fluenced him in making a prompt decision and a wise 
choice. His faith rose not out of natural circumstan- 



20 

ces ; it was not taught in the schools of the philoso- 
phers. It was infinitely superior to any thing human, 
inspiring him with sublime and heavenly sentiments, 
and dictating a noble, generous and virtuous conduct. 

The faith exercised by Moses was, no doubt, the 
result of maternal instructions. Placed under his 
mother's care in his infancy, she had a favorable op- 
portunity of forming his mind to a reliance and divine 
faith in his Maker. By initiating him into the religion 
of his ancestors, she prepared him to act in the spirited 
manner represented in the text, and opened the way 
for an elevation of character unattainable on worldly 
principles, or through means unsanctioned by divine 
providence. 

By faith he was taught to despise empty and una- 
vailing honors — honors limited in their duration, un- 
satisfying in their nature, and pernicious in their 
consequences — pleasures that like the tender flowrets 
of spring look lovely and inviting for a season, but 
soon wither and die. The faith by which Moses was 
influenced, not only produced these extraordinary re- 
sults, but it also opened upon his soul the visions of 
immortality. By faith he passed into the holy of 
holies, and stood, in the perceptions of a sanctified 
mind, before that great Being, who is invisible to ma- 
terial organs. There he beheld the glorious recom- 
pense, the substantial reward, the eternal rest, the 
heavenly inheritance. He had respect to these — they 
were esteemed worthy his chief regard and most ar- 
dent love — objects for which no sacrifice was too dear 



21 

or too great to hazard. The renown and celebrity 
he obtained as the saviour, legislator, and chief of 
a mighty nation, were not thrown into the scale. They 
had no connexion with the faith eulogized by the 
Apostle. They occupy a distinct and separate place 
in the history of Moses. He acted in view of eternal 
things, in reference to a future state, and under the 
superintendence and direction of unerring wisdom. 
Without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith is 
the Christian's shield 5 while covered with this armor 
he remains secure — the malignant arrows of sin and 
satan fall harmless at his feet. Faith nerves the 
Christian with superhuman energy ; and gives him 
strength to remove mountains. The dashings of the 
huge billows and the frantic ravings of the tempest are 
breasted by him who reposes unbounded confidence 
in the rock of his salvation ; and, at last, having over- 
come all enemies, his song of praise echoes from the 
cloudless towers of the New Jerusalem. 

By faith the ancients acquired a knowledge of the 
true God, and obtained a good report. Through faith 
we understand the worlds were framed by the word 
of God. By faith Abel offered unto God a more ac- 
ceptable sacrifice than Cain — Enoch was translated 
that he should not see death, and Noah, being warned 
by God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, 
prepared an ark to the saving of his house. Abraham 
by faith journeyed into a strange land, not knowing 
whither he went. By faith Isaac was offered up — 
Jacob and Esau blessed concerning things to come. 



22 

By faith Jacob when he was dying blessed both the 
sons of Joseph, and worshipped leaning upon the top 
of his staff. By faith the walls of Jericho were level- 
led with their foundations. Actuated and upheld by 
this pre-eminently powerful principle, millions of mar- 
tyrs have cheerfully suffered the spoiling of their goods, 
and even laid down their lives with joy. 

From the illustrious examples we have adduced we 
learn that, without the faith of the Gospel, 

" Were we possessors of the earth, 
And called the stars our own," — 

we should be poor indeed — our hopes of heaven 
groundless and our wishes vain. 

We also learn that decision is a very important and 
necessary ingredient in the character of him who 
would be on the Lord's side. Fluctuating principles 
are valueless. To halt between God and mammon is 
a mark of weakness and a sure prelude to destruction. 
If the Lord be God, serve him. Let us, then, be 
prompt and decided, firm to our purpose, and alto- 
gether persuaded to be Christians. 

Self-denial is another lesson we are taught by the 
conduct of Moses. It is essentially necessary to our 
happiness. If any man will be my disciple, let him 
deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, are the 
words of Jesus. Without this we cannot obtain the 
friendship of God. When self rules, anarchy is 
abroad, religion is despised, and the Almighty disre- 
garded 5 but when this usurper is dethroned, and he, 
whose right it is to reign, ascends the throne of our 



23 

affections, order and peace are restored — the soul 
breathes a pure atmosphere, and holds glorious com- 
munion with a present God. 

Finally — the picture which we have endeavoured 
to sketch should make deep impressions on the mind. 
The assemblage of virtues which adorn the character 
of Moses, the brilliant and the mild, blended together 
in sweet harmony, are worthy of the noblest emulation 
and the highest praise. Although we may never rise 
to the same eminence with this Bible saint, or be called 
upon to make such great sacrifices, we cannot expect 
to live even a brief life without passing through waters 
of affliction and being tried by the strongest tempta- 
tions. In the humbler walks of life, where the cur- 
rent seems to run smoothly, men experience the usual 
portion of sorrow and suffering as their entailed inheri- 
tance. At such times the strength of religious princi- 
ple is a powerful and necessary auxiliary in guarding 
the heart and influencing the practice. Without it we 
are involved in perplexity and doubt, left to the un- 
controlled exercise of unsanctified affections and vain 
imaginations, treasuring up wrath against the day of 
wrath. How necessary, then, that we should follow 
the example of Moses, and secure the friendship and 
favor of the divine Being by an early and decided re- 
nunciation of every thing, however dear, that might 
compete with a devoted attachment to his religion and 
laws. We should make our choice, and make it 
without delay. There are no barriers to obstruct us ; 
no powerful, inherent inability with which to contend 



24 

The throne of our heavenly Father is open to our 
complaints and cries ; the grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ is at hand to remedy every evil propensity of 
our nature. The supplies of the Gospel are rich and 
abounding. By the exercise of faith we may conquer 
every foe, pursue our journey through the wilderness 
of sin in safety, and arrive, at last, through death's 
dreary portals, into the promised Canaan. 



Search the Scriptures. — John v. 39. 

Although the way' to heaven is luminous, de- 
lightful, and safe ; yet it is accompanied with trials, 
difficulties and conflicts. There are many false guides 
to mislead us, and many enemies to encounter. It is, 
therefore, important to find a sure direction, an un- 
erring and faithful guide, and a firm and valiant pro- 
tector. 

All these wants have been supplied by the eternal 
God. Christ, the great captain of our salvation, has 
trodden the road himself, and conquered every ene- 
my. He now guards and defends all who commit 
themselves to his care and keeping, and the holy 
Scriptures afford a sure direction to God, to happiness, 
and to heaven. 

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 

The word scripture, in its original sense, is of the 
same import with writing. The several books con- 
tained in the Bible are called Scriptures by way of 
eminence, as they are the most important of all 
writings. 



26 

They are holy ; — full of truth and grace ; inimitable 
in simplicity, and glowing with celestial love to a fal- 
len world. The purity of their doctrines and pre- 
cepts ; the exquisite beauty, majesty, and elevation of 
their general bearing, 

" Their great original proclaim." 

They are true. — Their appearance is ancient, and 
the variety in their style is an evidence that they were 
composed by different persons, at different and distant 
times, and yet, in all their parts, they unite in pro- 
moting one great object. Bad men could not have 
written what so plainly condemns all sin, especially 
when they had a prospect of gaining nothing by the 
deception but reproach, imprisonment, torture, and 
death ; and good men would not have deceived man- 
kind by pretending that an invention of their own was 
a revelation from heaven. 

Although they are not in opposition to human wis- 
dom, enlightened by the spirit of God, — yet they rise 
infinitely superior to its greatest efforts and loftiest 
conceptions, and are contrary to that corruption of the 
heart which impostors would inculcate as the means 
of gaining their ends. 

They give an account of various miracles which 
must have been performed by the power of God, as 
no man could have done them of himself. Decep- 
tions they could not have been, because they were 
wrought in the open face of day, in the midst of vast 
multitudes of people, the most of whom were enemies, 
ready and anxious to expose the fraud if any such had 
really existed ; and memorials of them were taken on 



27 

the spot, preserved and handed down from generation 
to generation. 

The religion of the Scriptures was, at first, estab- 
lished and supported by these miracles, and has ever 
since maintained a powerful influence in the world, 
notwithstanding the numerous and high handed efforts 
made to destroy it. 

There are a great number of prophecies in these 
Scriptures that have been fulfilled to the very letter 
and spirit of the text — a most satisfactory and incon- 
trovertible evidence of their truth and authenticity as 
a revelation from God. 

Those which relate to the destruction of ancient 
nations and cities were recorded in numerous instances 
hundreds of years before their accomplishment. 

The prophecies, having for their grand subjects the 
incarnation of the Son of God, his life, labors, and 
sufferings ; his death, resurrection, and ascension, are 
standing monuments in confirmation of the authority 
of holy writ. 

The prophecies respecting the Jews — pointing out 
the destruction of their temple and city by the Ro- 
mans, their dispersion into all lands, their preservation 
as a distinct people, have been openly fulfilled and 
continue fulfilling to the present day, to the utter as- 
tonishment of all who have doubted, or may doubt, 
the genuineness of the holy Scriptures as having 
originated in God, bearing his signature and expres- 
sive of his character. 

They contain the most important truths. — The 
character and attributes of God, his eternity, his 



28 

omnipresence, his immensity, his wisdom, goodness, 
justice, holiness, and mercy, are written on the sacred 
page, as it were with sunbeams. 

The immortality of the soul, its infinite demerit, 
immense value, the vast price paid for it, and what 
should be our great care and concern in this life ; — 
these weighty and important subjects, which puzzled 
and bewildered the best and wisest of the ancients, are 
here fully explained and distinctly stated. 

The holy Scriptures are addressed to all mankind 
as sinners ; all having sinned and come short of the 
glory of God ; and this single circumstance alone 
raises them above price, and throws a splendor over 
these precious writings, unrivalled by any human pro- 
duction. 

They are the words of reconciliation from an offend- 
ed sovereign to his rebellious subjects, containing 
merciful offers of grace and salvation. When men, 
therefore, feel themselves to be sinners, and discover 
their need of a Saviour, the truth, that Jesus came 
into the world to save sinners, is, to them, valuable 
above every thing else. 

The important question, what must I do to be saved ? 
is here satisfactorily answered ; and the manner, in 
which God will be approached and worshipped by ra- 
tional intelligences, pointed out with clearness, fidelity, 
and truth. 

They are full of divine consolation.— They teach 
us to address God as our Father in heaven, and de- 
clare that his ear is ever open to our prayers, and his 
hand to supply our wants. As a father pitieth his 



29 

children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him ; for 
he knoweth our frame ; he remembereth we are but 
dust. — What a resource in the hour of need ! What a 
shelter from the storm ! What a solace in seasons of 
distress, and in the day of peril ! 

" Our numerous griefs are here redrest, 
And all our wants supplied : 
Naught we can ask to make us blest 
Is in this book denied." 

These consolatory sayings of the Divine Spirit, calm 
the agitated mind in its worst distress. They shed 
down upon the soul a heaven of love, and fill the am- 
bient air with the breath of paradise. 

" Here the Redeemer's welcome voice 
Spreads heavenly peace around, 
And life and everlasting joys 
Attend the blissful sound." 

Thy statutes, says David, have been my songs in the 
house of my pilgrimage ; unless thy law had been my 
delight, I should have perished in my afflictions. 

They will endure forever. — The time is not distant 
when all present things shall have passed away, without 
leaving a trace behind to remind us that they ever 
were. The lights of literature, of science, and of the 
arts, which now dazzle and charm, will then be cover- 
ed with the shadows of night ; and the flowers of 
friendship, of home, and of society, shall lie withered 
and dead upon the turf that covers us. The brother, 
the friends of our youth, the companion of our joys 
and sorrows, the children that are dear to us, the pos- 
sessions we enjoy, the sun which shines upon us, yea, 
3* 



30 

every earthly good will fail us. All in this world is 
changing and uncertain. Where can we rest ? — 
Where can we fix our feet and say, this will not sink 
under us — this will abide forever ? The trees are 
falling to naught, the stones are wasting away, the 
rivers are hastening to the ocean, the tombs of our 
fathers are breaking up, the monuments of fame are 
crumbling into dust. Our fathers, where are they f 
and the prophets, do they live forever ? All flesh is 
grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower of the 
field ; the grass withereth, the flower thereof fadeth 
away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. 
Heaven and earth, says Christ, shall pass away, but 
my words shall not pass away. 

Here then is something that will remain after the 
world shall have forsaken us, and all earthly prospects 
are blasted. These Scriptures change not ; their 
presence will more than fill the void which the ab- 
sence of earthborn joys has created in the smitten 
breast. In a word — they will be found inexpressibly 
precious in the hour of death, in the day of judgment, 
and through eternity. 

THE SCRIPTURES SHOULD BE SEARCHED. 

It is Chrisfs command. — Search the Scriptures, 
says the adorable Jesus, for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life, and they are they that testify of me. 
Blessed are they that hear the word of God and 
keep it. 

The Apostle writes, let the word of Christ dwell in 
you richly in all wisdom ; and he charges the Thessa- 



31 

lonians, that his epistle be read unto all the holy 
brethren. 

The wise man urges us to cry after knowledge, to 
seek her as silver, and search for her as hidden trea- 
sure. Wisdom is the principal thing ; therefore get 
wisdom. David was always studying the Scriptures, 
and describes the righteous man as one whose delight 
is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he medi- 
tate day and night. Timothy was acquainted with 
the Scriptures from a child. Apollos was mighty in 
the Scriptures. The primitive Christians read the 
Scriptures frequently, and with great care, and the 
most eminent saints, in all ages of the world, received 
the first kindlings of that bright flame, which distin- 
guished them as burning and shining lights, from this 
hallowed source. 

It is a means of obtaining salvation. — The Scrip- 
tures are able to make us wise unto salvation, through 
faith which is in Christ Jesus, and are profitable for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, 
thoroughly furnished unto every good word and work. 
What things were written aforetime, were written for 
our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of 
the Scriptures, might have hope. 

They are compared to a mirror, in which we behold 
the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same 
image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of 
the Lord. 

Thy law, says the royal Psalmist, is perfect, con- 
verting the soul ; and the man whose delight is in the 



law of the Lord, shall be like a tree planted by the 
rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his sea- 
son ; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he 
doeth, it shall prosper. 

By searching the Scriptures we shall acquaint our- 
selves with God, and be at peace, and thereby good 
shall come unto us. 

It is a source of happiness. 

" This world is a region of outsides, a land of shadows." 

This world, though exceedingly attractive, is deceitful, 
and unworthy of our esteem and love. Its promises 
of constancy and fulness of joy are empty and vain. 
" We grasp the phantoms and we find them air." 

It is a continued scene of disappointed hopes and 
blasted expectations ; thickly strewn over with the 
broken and decayed fragments of the pride and ambi- 
tion of man. The humiliating truth, that all is vanity, 
is written upon his fairest and proudest works, while 
the lips of the dying, and the cold memorials of the 
dead, announce it in language more than human. 

But here, in searching these Scriptures, we shall 
find true happiness. Here, we shall not be disappoint- 
ed ; for, great peace have they that love thy law. 
Their peace shall flow as a river, and their righteous- 
ness as the waves of the sea. 

They should be searched with diligence, in depen- 
dence upon divine aid, and with prayer. The richness 
and abundance of the mine, which can never be ex- 
hausted, are motives sufficiently powerful to excite us 
to activity and perseverance in his holy work. 



33 

Neglecting to search the Scriptures is productive of 
much evil. — The ignorance and enmity of the op- 
posers of these Scriptures may be attributed to this 
neglect. They have either examined them without 
due deference to the high authority whence they have 
emanated, and the important matter which they con- 
tain, or they have scornfully rejected them without 
even glancing at their contents, condemning them upon 
the false evidences of others, as weak and as wicked 
as themselves ; and, therefore, their judgment, in re- 
gard to these holy writings, is wholly worthless, be- 
neath the attention of rational and thinking men. 

Some have pretended that searching the Scriptures 
is the grand cause of the many false and groundless 
notions which prevail among men, and of the dreadful 
persecutions which blot the pages of church history. 
The contrary, however, may be asserted without dan- 
ger of being fairly disproved. A cloud of witnesses 
there are, even of those who had been once the 
proudest champions in the enemy's ranks, to establish 
the truth that searching the Scriptures, with an humble, 
penitent, lowly and contrite heart, is conducive of 
health to the soul, light to the understanding, and 
peace to the mind. Many of these had been formerly 
well acquainted with the letter of the Scriptures, had 
searched them with proud hearts, and with a fixed 
resolution not to be convinced by their reasonings or 
subdued by their threatenings. They had summoned 
them to the bar of reason, decorated with the insignia 
of philosophy, and there branded them with infamy ; 
but when their prospects in life changed, — when the 



34 

dungeon and the scaffold stood before them, — when 
death and eternity stared them in the face, and earth 
and worlds were sinking, — with what eager haste they 
fled to these strong holds for help ! with what ravish- 
ing joy they clasped and clung to the sacred truths 
they had once despised ! 

Our Lord attributes the infidel principles of the 
Sadducees to their ignorance of the Scriptures ; ye do 
err, says he, not knowing the Scriptures or the power 
of God ; and in a very solemn manner declares, that 
whosoever rejecteth Him and receiveth not his words, 
hath one that judgeth him, even the word which he 
hath spoken, which will judge him at the last day. 

In a word — nothing can be of greater magnitude in 
the gradations of intelligence than what is written in 
the holy Scriptures. 

They are of higher antiquity and treat upon more 
important, sublime, and glorious subjects than any 
other records to be found in the archives of the uni- 
verse. All human productions when compared to 
them are imbecile, and perishable. The literary 
efforts of the finest writers in ancient or modern 
times are eclipsed by the luminous rays of divine light 
that surround them. They stand apart, alone, and 
without a rival — a splendid demonstration of God's 
love to rebellious worms. In perusing them, we hold 
converse with a long line of the greatest worthies of 
antiquity ; both worlds are connected, and a vast and 
illimitable field opened for instruction and warning. 

The wisest philosophers, the scholar and the states- 
man, have bowed down before the majesty of their 



35 

rebuke, and have acknowledged, with astonishment, 
admiration, and awe, the elegance of their style, the 
purity of their morals, and the grandeur and magnifi- 
cence of the imagery with which they abound. To 
these venerable documents they are largely indebted 
for the great mass of information that distinguishes 
their noblest works. In a word, the whole galaxy of 
the arts and sciences have a nearer or more distant 
connexion with them, as the source from which they 
have emanated, and under whose fostering influence 
they have grown up to eminence, utility, and impor- 
tance. But what ennobles and dignifies these revealed 
truths above every thing else, is their salutary and 
gracious influence upon society. Separate from all 
other considerations, in this particular, they occupy a 
place as remarkable as it is elevated. 

Unmoved by the machinations of enemies, and shin- 
ing in a sphere where no power can paralyze their ef- 
forts, or change their character for integrity, constancy, 
and active benevolence, they pass through the moral 
heavens, shedding down their holy light, on those who 
sit in the valley and shadow of death, — opening upon 
the mind of man the blissful abodes of everlasting day, 
without a cloud to intercept the vision, the whisper 
of a doubt, or the intrusion of a fear to perplex or 
bewilder. 



My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. — Matt. xxvi. 38. 

No language can be more expressive than the 
words of the text ; — they are the sweet, plaintive 
breathings of a heart melted into mingled sensations 
of regret, sorrow, and pain. They are the true ex- 
pressions of lamentation and wo, interesting and pa- 
thetic, and well calculated to elicit corresponding 
sympathies from breasts capable of feeling and reali- 
zing the sorrows of which they complain. They are 
the words of the Son of God in the extremity of his 
agonies in the garden of Gethsemane. He had just 
celebrated the passover with his disciples, and the 
affectionate and touching manner in which he insti- 
tuted the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine, 
to commemorate his approaching passion and cruel 
death, awakened their finest feelings and cast a shade 
of deep melancholy over their minds. After this 
memorable scene, he accompanies them to the Mount 
of Olives and mingles his voice with theirs for the last 
time in singing a hymn — after which he enters the 
garden of agony, and separating himself from his 



37 

disciples, begins to feel the great bitterness of sin, the 
full weight of transgression, and the heavy curse of a 
broken law. 

" He sunk beneath our heavy woes 

To raise us to his throne ; 
There's not a gift his hand bestows. 

But cost his heart a groan." 



His body was mangled with whips and scourges ; 
his hands and feet pierced with nails, and his head 
crowned with thorns. All his senses, at the same mo- 
ment, were assailed with every torment wit or malice 
could invent. * * * * He gave his back to the smiters, 
and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and 
hid not his face from shame and spitting. 

Ye careless ones, behold the whips trickling with his 
blood ! the iron nails entering his flesh, the uplifted 
hammer driving them through the parting, shivering 
veins. 

Ye who tread in the footsteps of his murderers, and 
do daily, by repeated acts of transgression, cry out, — 
away with him, away with him, — crucify him, crucify 
him ; look upon the Lord of life and glory, clothed in 
his purple robe. His head encircled with a wreath of 
thorns, his back smarting from the cruel scourge, his 
face disfigured and bloody, his heart stabbed through 
with the point of a spear, — and be ashamed of your 
ingratitude and rebellion. 

Ye sons and daughters of pleasure, take off your 
eyes from beholding vanity, and gaze if ye can without 
4 



38 

feeling, upon the Son of God expiring on the accursed 
tree ! Behold the bed on, which he reclines his weary 
limbs ! It is not strewed with roses, nor spread with 
down ; it is a reeking cross on which he lies ! He 
rests his fainting head on a pillow of thorns. Wit- 
ness the many hours he hangs by the iron spikes, sus- 
pended between heaven and earth, bleeding at every 
pore, and in the most excruciating agonies. 

" See, from his hands, his head, his feet, 
Sorrow and love flow mingled down — 
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, 
Or thorns compose so rich a crown." 

The sufferings of the body, however excruciating 
and protracted, are trifling and unimportant when 
compared with the anguish of the soul. Give me any 
grief, says the wise man, but the grief of the heart. 
The spirit of a man will bear bodily infirmities, but 
what shall support a wounded spirit ? 

We may have some faint idea of the sufferings of 
the Redeemer's soul, from his unheard of sweat in the 
garden. There is no manner of violence offered to 
his body ; no man near him ; in a sharp night ; in the 
open air, and lying upon the cold earth ; yet a bloody 
sweat hung in great drops upon his countenance, ran 
through his apparel, and, mixing with the evening dew, 
sprinkled the earth on which he lay. 

" Oh, Lamb of God, was ever pain, 
Was ever love like thine ?" 

The ancient Greek liturgy touches this subject with 
great pathos in the following moving petition ; — By 
thine unknown sorrows and sufferings, by thee felt, but 



39 

to us incomprehensible, have mercy upon us and 
save us. 

All the powers of darkness beset him, the sin of the 
whole world oppressed him, the cup of his Father's 
wrath, mingled with the bitterest ingredients, was given 
him to drink. 

In the hour of his greatest distress and need, he 
finds none to comfort him. The Son of God, the in- 
nocent Jesus, came to his own, and his own received 
him not. And those who had apparently taken a 
special interest in his public labors, among whom he 
had gone healing, and teaching, and feeding, doing 
good to their bodies and souls, now cry, not this 
man, but Barabbas, — away with him — crucify him. 
In the midst of his agonies on Calvary, they shake 
their heads, saying, ah, thou wretch ! — and, at his 
most disconsolate cry, Eli, Eli, deride him with, let 
be, let us see whether Elias will come to take him 
down. 

Of his chosen twelve who had been his companions 
in tribulation, — one sold him, another denied him with 
oaths and curses, and all, one after another, fell away 
and left him to his cruel fate. 

His Father hid his face from him, — for, upon that 
dreadful cry, My God ! my God ! why hast thou 
forsaken me ! — that cry which moved heaven and 
earth, eclipsed the brightness of the sun, and plunged 
the world in darkness, — that cry which rent the rocks, 
opened the graves, shook creation, filled the angels of 
God with wonder, Satan's host with joy — which sound- 
ed a fearful knell to the guilty Jews, struck their 



40 

temple, rent the vail asunder, and sighing through the 
vast profound, awakened many saints from the sleep 
of ages — after this most alarming cry, he presently 
added, it is finished. He then bowed his head and 
gave up the ghost. 

In short, we may behold the blessed Jesus, from his 
entrance into the world, in the form of sinful man, to 
his expiring on the cross, and we shall see a man of 
sorrows and acquainted with grief, overcharged with 
suffering and tortured by cruelties the most barbarous, 
insulting, and degrading ; yet supported in a manner 
that clearly proved his nature divine, constituted to 
bear the sin of the whole world in his own body upon 
the tree, for God was in Christ reconciling the world 
unto himself — and whether we behold him laboring 
for the good of souls, healing the diseases of the body, 
in the synagogue or the mountain, at the well of Sa- 
maria or at the pool of Siloam, weeping over the 
grave of Lazarus, or restoring the widow's son to life, 
feeding the multitude, or blessing the bread and wine 
at the last supper, weeping in the garden of agony, or 
meekly giving himself up to his enemies, arrayed in 
the purple robe before Pilate, or bound to the bloody 
cross, tracking his way up Calvary, or hanging upon 
it, — we see the divinity throwing his splendor round 
about him, and wrapping him up in his ineffable 
majesty, supporting his holy soul in its most horrible 
anguish, yet so intimately blending with his humanity, 
that we are overwhelmed in the blaze of that matchless 
love which shines out the most glorious feature in the 
tragic scene. 



41 

" 0, goodness infinite ! goodness immense ! 
And love that passeth knowledge ! words are vain, 
Language is lost in wonders so divine." 

THE CAUSE OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS. 

The holy Scriptures declare that Christ is the Lamb 
of God, slain from the foundation of the world — that 
he was ordained, set apart and qualified by his Father 
to suffer in man's stead — the just for the unjust — that 
God spared not his own Son — that it even pleased the 
Father to bruise him, and put him to grief. Awake, says 
he, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that 
is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts ; smite and spare 
not ; and, therefore, Christ's sufferings have been attrib- 
uted to the wrath of God. But there is no wrath in God. 
Such a principle had no existence, before the fall of man, 
in any creature save the fallen angels. Wrath can be 
found nowhere, but in the creature that has turned itself 
away from the Creator who is love. For man was 
originally created in righteousness and true holiness, 
without any moral imperfection, or any kind of pro- 
pensity to sin — free to stand or fall. Yet he fell from 
this state and became morally corrupt in his nature. 
Wrath, then, is the issue of disorder, begotten by the 
sin of Adam — and this, his sin, may be termed the 
wrath of God, as it was the primary cause of Christ's 
unparalleled sufferings and cruel death. The wretch- 
edness of man moved the Almighty to pity and to 
resolve to relieve him ; and there being no other way 
to do this consistently with his own perfections and the 

nature of man's case, but by the exhibition of his 
4* 



42 

justice in the sacrifice of his only begotten Son, he 
freely offered him up to achieve the great design. 

The divine precept given to Adam was, in the 
day thou eatest of the tree of knowledge thou shalt 
surely die ; so that when he transgressed the law, sin 
entered into the world and all our wo, and he became 
an alien from his God and the joys of Paradise, and 
his entire destruction would not have lingered one 
moment but for the promise of a Saviour, who, in due 
time, was to satisfy divine justice, make atonement for 
transgression, and open a wide and effectual door for 
the free and honorable exercise of grace and mercy to 
the whole world of mankind : so that God can now, 
through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, be just, and 
the justifier of the ungodly. 

It was sin, therefore, which drew down the thunder- 
bolts of justice upon Jehovah's fellow, rendered her 
demands great, her terms severe, and her manner in- 
flexible. It was sin that caused all the Redeemer's 
sufferings, and it was for poor, miserable man that he 
endured the cross and despised the shame. He was 
wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our 
iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon 
him, and with his stripes we are to be healed. 

It was to redeem a guilty world from the effects of 
sin here and hereafter, and to make rebels the partners 
of his throne and the children of his love, that he 
poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered 
with transgressors and bare the sin of many. We, 
sinners, then, are sharers in the guilt of the Jewish 
Sanhedrim, the infuriated soldiery, and the blood- 



43 

thirsty multitude who insulted and slew the adorable 
Jesus. We have borne a part in all the horrid acts 
done to him in the garden, in Pilate's hall, and on the 
cross. 

«« Beneath my load he faints and dies ; 
I fill'd his soul with pangs unknown 5 
I caus'd those mortal groans and cries ; 
I kill'd the Father's only Son." 

It was in the hard struggle to atone for sin that he 
sweat great drops of blood, and cried out, when heavi- 
ly oppressed by an accumulation of sorrows — my God ! 
my God ! why hast thou forsaken me ? All this suf- 
fering was due to the children of men, by their de- 
parture from the living God ; and now, being found in 
the fashion of a man, veiled in humanity, the stroke of 
justice fell upon the sacred head of Jesus, — and from 
that deadly blow which reached his inmost soul, a balm 
is derived for the healing of the nations — a cordial for 
the fears of the disconsolate and the unhappy. 

" To man the bleeding cross has promis'd all — 
The bleeding cross has sworn eternal grace : 
Who gave his life, what grace will he deny ?" 

The love of Christ here shines out with transcen- 
dent lustre, while he undertakes freely, and patiently 
endures the most wretched state of the worst of sin- 
ners, that the worst of sinners, through him, may be 
encouraged to approach the mercy seat and find grace 
to help them in every time of need. And the eternal, 
unalterable love of the Father is also conspicuous in 
giving up his only begotten Son to redeem poor, lost 
souls from the thraldom of sin, and restore them to 
their original standing in the creation of God. For it 



44 

became him, for whom are all things, in bringing 
many unto glory, to make the captain of their sal- 
vation perfect through suffering. 

the blessings and benefits that grow out of 
Christ's sufferings. 

Man was fallen — ruined — an heir of wrath, and ex- 
posed to the inevitable consequences of his sin and 
folly. Justice sternly demanded his blood — no city 
of refuge opened its friendly shelter to receive him — 
no sound of mercy rung through his soul ; but, thanks 
be to God, for the gift of his Son — through whom 
man may be raised from the ruins of the fall, the iron 
arm of sin broken, and a revolted world restored to 
the image and favor of the divine being. 

Darkness more intense than that which skirted the 
horizon of Egypt, and wrapped the beautiful Nile in a 
horrible mantle, had fallen upon us, and, under its 
unearthly shadowings, the destroyer was hastening to 
execute the dreadful sentence — cut them down ; — but, 
lo, through Christ, the true paschal lamb, a light 
breaks out in the heavens ; the night of death passes 
away, and — peace, good will to man, is heard re- 
sounding through the air. 

" In heaven the rapturous song began, 
And sweet, seraphic fire 
Through all the shining legions ran, 
And strung and tun'd the lyre. 

" Swift through the vast expanse it flew, 
And loud the echo roll'd ; 
The theme — the song — the joy was new — 
'Twas more than heaven could hold." 



45 

We are exiles in this vale of affliction — filled with 
doubts and fears, and treading, like the blasted Cain, 
an unhallowed shore ; but, blessed be the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whose re- 
deeming grace the door of hope is opened, while 
at its threshold stands almighty love, waiting to lead 
all, who comply with the Gospel invitation, into bles- 
sedness that passeth all understanding, preparatory to 
their taking possession of their inheritance among the 
saints in light. 

And do we pay no regard to these great, illustrious 
evidences of the causeless, disinterested and unbound- 
ed love of God to our fallen race ? Are our hearts 
unbroken — our feelings untouched ? Is our attention 
fixed on the transitory objects of time and sense, re- 
gardless of the mighty efforts of Jesus to redeem our 
souls from sin and death, and bestow on us — holiness 
and heaven ? Can we join our voices to those of the 
giddy multitude who insult the Saviour ? Can we 
trifle with Christ ? What ! can we make light of his 
tears, his groans, his bloody sweat in the garden, the 
severity of the scourge, and the torture of the crown 
of thorns ? 

Let us trace his footsteps to Calvary ; there let us 
stand and gaze, pause and consider ! If at such a 
place with such a scene, we can trifle, what would 
angels think ! more struck with grief who can tell ? 

" Around the bloody tree they press'd with strange desire 
That wondrous sight to see the Lord of life expire ; 
And could their eyes have known a tear. 
In sad surprise had dropt it there." 



He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. — 
I Cor. xv. 25. 

From the earliest period of time, the great ones 
of the earth have filled our world with the splendor of 
their deeds of daring and valor. Their names have 
been handed down the descent of years, blazoned 
upon the page of history. Monuments have been 
erected to their memories ; the trophies of their vic- 
tories, glittering with armorial bearings and the trap- 
pings of state, have adorned the senate house, the 
palace and the cathedral. Posterity has paid them 
universal homage, and the children's children, to the 
third and fourth generation, have hung with rapture on 
the stories of their wars, their conquests and their 
triumphs. But when we investigate the records of 
their fame and find them stained with the foulest 
crimes — when we see the spirit of a fell ambition 
urging them forward in the pursuit of glory — when we 
find self reigning pre-eminent in the breasts of the 
most renowned heroes, — our admiration ceases — they 
charm no longer — they stand before us divested of 
every high, ennobling quality, and sunk even below the 
level of the meanest slave. 



47 

Weary of those scenes in which each petty tyrant 
plays his fitful part, 

" And frets and struts his hour upon the stage, 
And then is heard no more — " 

we look away to the records of the Prince of Peace, 
and gather inspiration at the throne of God. 

THE MESSIAH. 

He is king on his holy hill in Zion. He was con- 
secrated to his regal office by a special anointing from 
on high. The Psalmist, in the spirit of prophecy, 
exclaims— Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. 
The sceptre of thy throne is a right sceptre. Thou 
lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity ; therefore 
God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of 
gladness above thy fellows. He is uniformly repre- 
sented throughout the holy Scriptures under the cha- 
racter of a king, and the terms used to show his kingly 
power are peculiarly adapted to fill the mind with the 
most exalted views of the glory, the extent, and the 
prosperity of his mediatorial reign. 

Isaiah eloquently describes the Messiah as the child 
born, the son given, and announces the extraordinary 
intelligence that the government shall be upon his 
shoulders — that he shall be called the Prince of Peace 
— that of the increase of his government there shall be 
no end. 

Zechariah, filled with holy anticipations, cries out — 
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ; shout, O daugh- 
ter of Jerusalem — for behold, thy king cometh unto 
thee. * * * Yea, all the kings shall fall down before 



48 

him ; all nations shall serve him. His name shall en- 
dure forever : his name shall be continued as long as 
the sun ; and men shall be blessed in him ; all nations 
shall call him blessed. 

The Jews from these prophecies, the traditions of 
their fathers, the writings of their Rabbins and the 
sayings of their wise men, were taught to expect the 
Messiah would make his appearance like earthly mon- 
archs, invested with supreme authority and attended 
with the pomp, magnificence, and splendor of an ori- 
ental court. But when his coming did not comport 
with their worldly notions and views, they rejected his 
person and mission with scorn and would not receive 
his offers of life and salvation. 

Two respectable heathen historians, who flourished 
some time before the birth of Christ, have testified 
that a Jew should arise out of Judea and obtain the 
government of the universe — and that this was a 
general opinion throughout the world. It was this 
universal expectation probably that led the wise men of 
the east to Jerusalem in quest of the king of the Jews. 
We may add the testimony of Herod to the fact that 
the Messiah was expected to reign over the Jewish 
nation. The extreme anxiety he discovered in his 
questions to the eastern sages, and his cruel mandate 
to destroy the infants in Bethlehem, evinced his fears 
lest the sceptre should, one day, be wrested from his 
hands by this son of David. 

The Messiah is the prince of the kings of the earth. 
He who wears upon his vesture and upon his thigh 
this name written — King of kings and Lord of lords. 



49 

He sits on the right hand of the majesty on high ; 
angels and principalities and powers being made sub- 
ject unto him, having a name given him above every 
name that is named. Thousands of thousands min- 
ister unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand 
stand before him. He is the king, of glory — Emanuel, 
God with us — he who rides prosperously in the chariot 
of a preached Gospel, going forth from conquering to 
conquer — the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord 
mighty in battle. 



The reign of Christ is mediatorial. He holds and 
exercises a mediatorial office in his church, among his 
people, between a world of impenitent sinners and a 
holy and righteous God. His kingdom is founded on 
the principles of mediation — Christ, therefore, reigns 
in his redeeming and mediatorial character, a prince 
and a Saviour to give repentance and ^remission of 
sins, and to receive gifts for men, even for the 
rebellious. 

" Five bleeding wounds he bears, 

Received on Calvary— 
They pour effectual prayers, 

They strongly speak for me. 
Forgive him, 0, forgive, they cry, 
Nor let that ransom'd sinner die." 

The reign of Christ is spiritual. His throne is set 
up in the hearts of his subjects ; it is there he estab- 
lishes his kingdom, extends his empire, carries on his 
triumphs, producing righteousness, peace, and joy in 
5 



50 

the Holy Ghost, and bringing into willing subjection 
to his mild government every faculty and energy of 
the soul. 

His kingdom is not of this world. It is unlike all 
earthly monarchies. The kingdoms of this world are 
governed by a succession of kings and by human laws. 
Their wars are of a carnal and bloody nature ; their 
treasures dross and tin ; their labors are confined to 
earth; their objects bounded by time and sense ; their 
ends selfish, little and finite, and their glory momen- 
tary. Whereas, the kingdom of the Messiah always 
has been, is now, and ever shall be, governed but by 
one king. Its laws are divine ; its warriors wear a 
peaceful uniform and wield the weapons of truth and 
love. Its treasures are more valuable than silver or 
gold, more durable than iron or brass ; its objects more 
vast and sublime than it is possible for the mind of 
man, unaided by the light of revelation, to compre- 
hend, or even to conceive, and its glory is unfading 
and eternal. 

The reign of Christ is perpetual. All temporal 
kingdoms rise and fall, flourish and decay, and will 
ultimately perish in the general conflagration ; but the 
Messiah's dominion is from generation to generation, 
and his throne is forever and ever. 

The prophet Daniel, speaking of the perpetuity of 
the Messiah's reign, represents that, after the downfall 
-of the Babylonian, Persian and Grecian empires, the 
God of heaven shall set up a kingdom that shall never 
be destroyed, and it shall stand forever. I saw in the 
night visions and behold one like the son of man came 



51 

to the ancient of days, and there was given him do- 
minion and glory and a kingdom ; that all people and 
nations and languages should serve him. He shall be 
great, said Gabriel, and the Lord shall give unto him 
the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over 
the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there 
shall be no end. It is likened to a stone cut out with- 
out hands, becoming a great mountain and filling the 
whole earth. 

It is an immoveable kingdom. The foundations 
thereof are laid deep and wide, resting on the rock of 
ages. It shall flourish in immortal might, unmoved 
amid the war of elements, the wreck of matter and 
the crush of worlds ; and when the last pillar that 
supports the universe shall have crumbled into ruins, 
the kingdom of the Messiah will then appear in all its 
magnificence, grandeur and beauty, adorned with the 
trophies of a subdued world, and extending itself over 
the illimitable dominions of Jehovah. 

In short, Christ is a universal king. He reigns in 
the kingdom of nature, of providence, of grace and 
of glory. 



Notwithstanding the grandeur of the Messiah's reign 
— his extensive sway, and the great multitudes in 
heaven and upon earth that render him homage, at- 
tend upon his person and obey his voice, there are 
millions who know him not, and millions trample upon 
his laws, and light up the fires of rebellion against his 
government. 



52 

Among those who know him not, we may reckon 
those nations and kingdoms where the Gospel of Jesus 
never penetrated — where the grossest darkness broods, 
and where idolatry, ignorance and superstition hold 
their gloomy reign ; among those who are in a state 
of active, obdurate rebellion, we may arrange large, 
distinct classes in the following order, — those nations 
now under the power of the mystical Babylon, noticed 
in Revelations, — the broken tribes of Israel who remain 
obstinate in their hostility to Christ and his mission, — 
that part of the world which lies under the domination 
of the arch deceiver, Mahomet. 

These form a great army ; but they are not alone 
in their opposition to Christ and his kingdom ; there 
are those who glory in their opposition to his person 
and government, even while they derive their chief 
comforts and enjoyments from living under his gra- 
cious sway. His government and laws have smoothed 
the rugged passages of human life, have adorned society 
with jewels of the first water, and imprinted the holiest 
characters upon all the varieties of being ; yet such is 
their apathy, hardness of heart, ingratitude and re- 
bellion, they render no homage to the author and 
giver of these undeserved blessings, nor do they dis- 
cover the hand that supplies their numerous wants, and 
covers them with the panoply of a merciful protection. 

In a word, from the first entrance of sin into the 
world to the present moment, the kingdom of darkness 
has maintained a severe, persevering and universal 
struggle against truth and holiness, opposing, under 
the most specious forms and by various devices, every 



53 

thing that has borne the likeness of the divine char- 
acter. 

the Messiah's conquests. 

The success which has attended the arms of Eman- 
uel, from the first promulgation of the Gospel by the 
seamen of Galilee, is a paradox to an unbelieving 
world. Although the army of the faithful has been 
beset by enemies from every nation, kindred, tongue 
and people — although the deadliest weapons have 
been called into requisition, the engines of cruelty and 
power have "been marshalled in terrible array, led on 
by leaders of consummate skill and valor, — the mighty 
mass has been borne backward — the ranks have been 
broken, and the proudest champions wounded and 
slain. The Roman empire was speedily taken in the 
toils of the Gospel net, and, in a few years after the 
ascension of the great deliverer of a captive world, she 
bowed her imperial neck to the yoke of the Gali- 
lean peasant. Christianity then ascended the throne 
of the Cassars, and its radiant light rose in mild ma- 
jesty over the dynasty of kings. 

Christ Jesus shall continue his conquests until all 
the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the 
Lord and worship before him. In the last day it shall 
come to pass that the mountain of the Lord's house 
shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and 
it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall 
flow unto it. Then the fulness of the Gentiles shall 
have come in, and all Israel shall be saved, and the 
earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of 
5* 



54 

the Lord as the waters cover the great deep, and the 
kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our 
God and his Christ. 

Are there heathen nations dwelling in darkness and 
in the valley and shadow of death, to whom the angel 
of the everlasting Gospel hath not, as yet, winged his 
flight — on whose unhallowed shores the banner of the 
crucified hath never been unfurled ? To these the 
Gospel shall be sent; they will crowd around the 
missionaries of the cross, and, casting their idols to 
the moles and the bats, touch the golden sceptre of 
mercy and live. The Father hath given to the Mes- 
siah the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost 
parts of the earth for his possession. The whole 
world is included in this encouraging promise, and it 
shall, ere long, be filled with the knowledge, and sub- 
dued to the obedience, of Christ. 

It may be said there is little prospect that these 
animating hopes will ever be realized while so great a 
portion of mankind is given to idolatry and sin. This 
objection is triumphantly answered by referring to the 
power of the Almighty and the unexampled success of 
Christianity. Our confidence is unshaken. It rests 
on Israel's God. He directs the complicated move- 
ments of all worlds. He maketh the clouds his pa- 
vilion, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. He 
holds the winds in his fists, and taketh up the isles as 
a very little thing. And can he not frustrate the de- 
signs of his enemies, disappoint their vain imaginings, 
and destroy their instruments of unholy warfare ? 
Have not the combined powers of darkness again and 



55 

again been routed by his potent arm? Has he not 
spoiled principalities and thrones and dominions, mak- 
ing a show of them openly and scattering them like 
chaff abroad upon the face of the earth ? Has he not 
hurled to the bottomless pit the apostate angels who 
would have possessed the battlements of heaven and 
seated themselves above the stars — and is he not 
already tearing up the foundations of the earth, and 
shaking the pillars of strength and glory which had 
reared their proud heads to the skies ? Is not the 
Lord a man of war ? Who is like unto thee, O Lord, 
among the gods ?. who is like thee, glorious in holiness, 
fearful in praises, doing wonders ? 

The Messiah must reign till he hath put all enemies 
under his feet. The Almighty, in order to prostrate 
the pride of man, has condescended to use means 
apparently insignificant in consummating the subju- 
gation of a rebellious colony. Human energies and 
feeble instrumentality are employed in God's service. 
Men are commanded to take unto themselves armor 
of divine proof, and to go forth to glorious war. Their 
weapons are not carnal, but mighty through God to 
the pulling down of the strong holds of Satan, break- 
ing through the embattled hosts of the enemy, and 
putting to flight the armies of the aliens. Equipped 
from the sacred armory of evangelical truth, the sol- 
diers of Jesus shall ere long force their way through 
every difficulty ; nothing shall be able to impede their 
march until the sacred standard is unfurled in every 
continent, island, vale and mountain under heaven. 
What though the heathen nations marshal their idol 



56 

gods, the haughty mussulmans display the hateful 
crescent, and sin and infidelity plant their standards on 
the very ramparts of Christianity — Christ Jesus shall 
reign till he hath subdued them all — until every enemy 
in the empire of sin shall have fallen under his arrows — 
until he hath plucked up from its deepest foundations 
the kingdom of darkness, and the shout of victory 
over the beast is heard thundering through the uni- 
verse. Then their rage shall perish and their hopes 
be blasted. 

Preparations are in advance to hasten this important 
consummation. The great battle is yet to be fought. 
There are ominous signs abroad of an approaching 
convulsion ; the outposts of the enemy have been 
driven in ; but they are concentrating their forces, for- 
tifying the ground they occupy, and making grand 
preparations for a mighty and desperate struggle. 
The voice of war is in the breath of a thousand clari- 
ons, and the striplings of the house of the Lion of the 
tribe of Judah are in the field. The King of kings 
and Lord of lords is advancing to the onset, followed 
by the armies of heaven. He has entered the arena 
of battle, and the foes of God and man are receding. 

The fulness of the glorious reign of the Messiah is 
at hand. The broad light of the sun of righteousness, 
high in the ascendant, will then blaze, in golden splen- 
dor, across both hemispheres. The river of life is 
filling up and overflowing the dry and barren places 
of the earth. 

But, alas, to some the day of probation is expiring. 
Mercy will soon refrain her humble suing — her voice 



57 

will no longer fall in pitying accents on the ear of 
rebels, and the blood of the slain Lamb will cease to 
speak better things than the blood of Abel. Soon the 
fulfilment of Christian prophecy shall be complete — - 
the great harvest shall be gathered in, and the Lord 
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty 
angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that 
know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ : who shall be punished with everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord and the 
glory of his power. 

Then cometh the end, when the Messiah shall have 
delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father ; 
when he shall have put down all rule, all authority and 
power. And when all things shall be subdued unto 
him, then shall the Son also be subject unto him that 
put all things under him, that God may be all in all — 
for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under 
his feet. 



Pure religion and undented before God and the Father is this, to 
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. — James, i. 27. 

All religions, that are not founded in a revelation 
from God, may be likened to a world without a sun, 
or to a dark, starless night. Without that knowledge 
of God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, which 
revelation alone teaches, man is a poor, blind wretch, 
the child of doubt, uncertainty and despair. To him 
the garden of nature is a dreary waste — eternity an 
unknown, vast and unfathomable void, — dark and 
bleak, and cold, — and not a ray of hope flashes on his 
gloomy soul. 

When man became subject to sorrow, wretched- 
ness, pain and death, the consequences of his aposta- 
cy, — and was driven from a lost paradise to wander 
through the dreary mazes of this vale of tears, the 
great God had pity on his forlorn condition. He said 
— Let there be light — and the star of Bethlehem 
arose ; its holy beamings illumed man's dreary path, 
and the bow of hope and of promise, circling the skies, 
cheered his fainting spirits. And now, thanks be to 



59 

God, our holy religion spreads its radiant splendors 
from pole to pole — Heaven's own beacon, reared on 
high to save us from the dangers of these stormy seas, 
and light us to the haven of endless bliss. 

PURE AND UNDEFILED RELIGION. 

The Christian religion is founded in a revelation 
from God. It is a bright and glorious light, shining in 
a dark world. It hath brought life and immortality to 
light. It is like the orb of day which rises in the east 
to gild the earth with his glory, and revive nature with 
his genial warmth. Before the lighting down of its be- 
nign countenance the clouds of ignorance dissolve and 
vanish — the soul of man is refreshed and invigorated 
— society beautified and strengthened — the solitary 
place made glad, and the wilderness turned into a 
fruitful garden. 

It is pure, because it originated in the great foun- 
tain of light, life and goodness — the benevolent pa- 
rent of mankind — the preserver and upholder of all 
things. God is love — pure, unmixed love — the source 
of this heaven-born principle. The character of God 
is love, in nature, design, effect ; and love in his ope- 
rations. The love of God is conspicuous in all his 
works — it 

" Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, 
Glows in the stars and blossoms in the trees ; 
Lives in all life, extends through all extent, 
Spreads undivided, operates unspent." 

As the stream partakes of the nature of the foun- 
tain whence it flows, so pure and undefined religion, 



60 

as it hath originated with God, is love. It was the 
love of God that broke the silence in the courts above, 

" When the heavenly choir stood mute," 

and winged the blessed tidings of redeeming mercy to 
the bowers of Eden. 

It was love, Almighty love, that clothed the fairest 
and brightest inhabitant of bliss with mortal robes, and 
sent him on a mission fraught with kindness to our 
"rebel race. 

It was unparalleled love that led the blessed Jesus, 
without a murmur, through a life of toils and perils ; — 
that induced him to submit to pain and suffering, and 
sustained him under the mountain pressure of man's 
accumulated guilt. 

It was love unequalled — more than man can know 
or angels feel, that bade him bare his bosom to the 
smiting of the ruffian soldiers, and bend his sacred 
head to the savage strokes inflicted by those he came 
to save. 

" Sun, didst thou fly thy Maker's pain, or start 
At that enormous load of human guilt 
Which bowed his blessed head, o'erwhelm'd the cross, 
Made groan the centre, burst earth's marble womb, 
With pangs, strange pangs ! deliver'd of her dead ? 
Hell howled, and Heaven that hour let fall a tear — 
Heav'n wept, that man might smile ; Heav'n bled, 
That man might never die !" 

Here the wonders of redeeming love are brought 
out and displayed in all their matchless excellences, 
before the admiring eyes of men and angels. The 
great Being no longer speaks in thunder from Sinai's 



61 

summit, encircled with his terribleness, and covered 
with mystery. Calvary has stilled the tempest. Be- 
fore the crucified, the thick clouds are dispelled. His 
death has given an interpretation to every dark saying, 
laid a solid foundation for our hopes, and opened a 
way for the ransomed of the Lord to return to Zion 
with everlasting joy and gladness upon their heads. 

It is divine love — a love which continually deviseth 
liberal things, that hath made a rich and ample provis- 
ion in the Gospel, for man's destitute and perishing fa- 
mily — an infinite atonement — an all-sufficient sacrifice 
for the guilty, the undeserving and rebellious ; — that 
hath suited the blessings of the Gospel to our neces- 
sities, making them applicable to the nature of our 
constitution, and entirely sufficient to supply all our 
wants. 

" Enough for each, enough for all, and enough for evermore." 

It is love impartial — love universal — love that knows 
no bounds — which opens the treasures of the Gospel 
to all men, without any respect to nation, rank, de- 
gree, or order. For God is no respecter of persons, 
but, in every nation, he that feareth him, and work- 
eth righteousness, is accepted with him. The grace 
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all 
men, and this grace teacheth all men every where the 
things that belong to their peace and lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world. 

The manner in which these treasures are offered to 
all men is equally illustrative of the impartial and be- 
nevolent nature of pure and undefiled religion. They 



62 

are free to all who will accept of them without money 
and without price, upon the plain, easy terms of re- 
pentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Ask, and ye shall receive — seek and ye shall 
find — knock and it shall be opened unto you. For 
our God is rich unto all them that call upon him, and 
whosoever cometh unto him he will in no wise cast 
them out. 

The precepts of pure and undefiled religion, taught 
in the Gospel, are expressive of the same benevolent 
principle. Our Lord's sermon on the mount, is a 
beautiful transcript of its lovely and loving nature ; 
and the manner in which these godlike precepts are 
taught and enforced, show that the Christian religion 
is pure and undefiled, without spot or wrinkle, or any 
such thing — a religion, that carries along with it an 
internal evidence of its divine origin, beaming forth 
peace and good will to all mankind. 

THE EFFECTS AND FRUITS OF PURE AND UNDEFILED 
RELIGION. 

The effects. If the nature of the Christian reli- 
gion be pure and undefiled, the effects will be pure 
and undefiled also. The love of God, manifested to 
the soul, produces love to God and man. The perfect 
Christian loves God with all the heart, might, mind 
and strength. The whole man is given up, and the 
whole heart surrendered to the supreme control of 
God, who is love. Love is the fulfilling of the law, 
and where love is not, there is no true religion. If 
we love God we shall keep his commandments. For 



63 

where true love is, there is willing obedience, and no 
command of God is grievous — no requirement hard — 
no burden too heavy ; love will make the way seem 
pleasant, and cheer the humble and believing in all 
their pilgrimage here below. Even when the heart 
bleeds with anguish, and the storms of misfortune beat 
upon the naked head, this celestial inmate of the bo- 
som whispers peace ; the bitterness of grief is taken 
away, and the bowlings of the storm hushed in its 
presence. Touched by its magic influence, the en- 
raptured soul takes the wings of inspiration and soars 
above terrestrial things, till she melts in ecstacies be- 
fore the throne of God, 

Who then would part with pure and undefiled reli- 
gion, though it should seem obscured by a passing 
cloud — who would exchange it for the song of the 
worldling or the burst of revelry ? There is a voice 
from Jesus sweeter than song ; a hope beyond this 
world, to which we turn in sorrow ; and though our 
eyes may be dim with weeping and our cheeks suffus- 
ed with tears, yet, the sun of righteousness, gilding 
the distant horizon, gives the promise of serener skies 
and happier days. 

We inherit this love to God only by grace ; nor can 
we realize its consolations in the hour of distress and 
danger, or, indeed, at any time, without a revelation 
of God in the soul. We cannot know God, much 
less love him, without his Spirit witnessing with ours 
that we are his children. Let us, then, inquire, has 
God said to us, live ? Has he opened our eyes to be- 
hold the light of the glory of God, shining in the face 



64 

of Jesus Christ ? Have old things passed away, and 
all things become new ? Are we partakers of the pre- 
cious faith once delivered to the saints f Is pure and 
undefined religion enthroned in our affections and ex- 
emplified in our lives ? If so, we love the brethren. 
But how far does our love extend ? We should al- 
ways remember that this principle, as taught in the 
Bible, is unbounded. We must love all men, if we 
would obey the precept of love ; not those of our kin- 
dred, or nation, or particular religious denomination 
merely : those from without ; yea even our most bit- 
ter enemies are to share in our charities and sympa- 
thies. This is the glorious characteristic of the reli- 
gion of Jesus. To be his true disciples, then, we 
must love, not in word only, but in deed and in truth. 

Pure religion is undefiled in all its operations. It can 
produce nothing unholy. The motives by which it 
urges us to duty are, like its nature, benevolent, full 
of mercy and good fruits. It is pure and undefiled 
before God and the Father. We act under the im- 
mediate inspection of the all-seeing eye. He, with 
whom we have to do, is ever present with us. All 
things are naked and open before him — even the 
thoughts and intents of the heart. Thou, God, seest 
us, should be deeply graven on our hearts, never to be 
forgotten. 

The fruits. They are works of charity and mercy, 
and none are more especially the objects of charity 
and mercy than the widow and orphan. Actions are 
the proper evidences of a religious faith. Idle specu- 
lations upon the subject never elevate the heart, or 



. 65 

regulate the life. Religion may engage our attention, 
interest our feelings— yet leave our hearts cold and our 
hands idle. Virtuous actions are the legitimate ac- 
companiments of genuine piety. We are not to be 
hearers of the word only, says our divine teacher, but 
doers also. We must therefore labor to do good ; no 
obstacles should deter us ; no enemies dishearten us ; 
no exertions weary us. There are those who call 
themselves Christians — but their words and actions are 
at variance. They affect to commiserate the suffer- 
ings of their fellow creatures, and like the priest and 
the Levite pass on without administering one cordial 
to support their sinking spirits. The widow, the 
fatherless and the orphan are neglected ; their tears 
disregarded ; their wants unsupplied, and their sorrows 
forgotten. 

The true Christian is an angel of mercy. The 
principles and motives by which he is actuated are 
pure and undefiled before God and the Father ; his 
actions are a lucid illustration of the excellency of that, 
religion which animates his soul. He visits the habi- 
tations of disease and wretchedness — supplies the wants 
of the poor and needy — sheds the sympathetic tear 
over their sufferings — points them to the cross of Christ, 
and supplicates a throne of grace in their behalf. 

Pure and undefiled religion, then, is love, in nature 
and essence — love in all its operations and fruits. It 
is the fulfilment of all the laws of God ; and he, who 
is under its divine influence, is a Christian in deed and 
in truth. 

6* 



66 

To conclude, — There is nothing higher in religion 
than love, — there is, in effect, nothing else. It is the 
foundation of our hopes, the ground of our acceptance 
with, and union to, God. Without this Gospel princi- 
ple we cannot know God, much less love him. It 
clothes the whole man with the beautiful robes of an 
angel of light. It is the brightest gem in the Chris- 
tian's crown. It is the very breath of heaven, diffus- 
ing, joy and gladness to all within its hallowed circle. 
It brings the soul out into the light of God's counte- 
nance, and fills it with unconquerable longings to be 
emparadised in perrennial joys. It is the nearest like- 
ness we have on earth to Him in whom there was no 
guile. It is the silken cord that binds man to man — 
the golden zone which encircles all the lovers of Jesus — 
the Shibboleth of the Christian order — the beginning, 
the continuance, and the end, of all religious doctrines, 
precepts and examples. In a word, where love is 
absent, religion is a phantom ; profession a solemn 
mockery, and all our hopes of heaven baseless as the 
fabric of a vision. 



How dreadful is this place ! this is none other but the house of God, 
and this is the gate of heaven. — Genesis, xxviii. 17. 

The character of God has been much misunder- 
stood in every age of the world. Men of lovely, 
irreproachable lives, philosophers, statesmen and intel- 
lectual lights that threw a glory around pagan history, — 
all have felt a darkness surrounding them while con- 
templating the subject of the eternal Deity. Their 
ardent minds, indeed, often caught a glimpse of di- 
vinity, darkly arraying itself in nature's robes, speaking 
in the winds, ruling the wide world of waters, and de- 
veloping the mysterious connexions of cause and effect 
in the moral world ; yet mind, left to its own energies, 
unaided by the light of revelation, was incompetent to 
sketch the bold outline of Jehovah's form as it stood 
figured in awful relief on the tables of testimony. 
When the wise ancients saw, as they could not but 
see, the harmonious movements of nature's panorama, 
they accounted for the skill and accuracy of its or- 
ganization by supposing that certain principles attached 
themselves to matter to guide its devious way and 



evolve the unvarying movements ; — others saw God in 
the sun, moon and stars, and worshipped either directly 
or symbolically, the whole host of heaven ; — but few, 
if any, could grasp, in the compass of their thoughts, 
that God was every where — that his Spirit filled the 
rejoicing heavens and earth — that it pervaded im- 
mensity — that it filled up the measure of time and 
overflowed the farthest shores of eternity. 

Not pagan philosophers only have been ignorant of 
the truth that God is every where. Jacob was un- 
mindful of this when, weary and faint, he lay down on 
the cold earth, on his pillows of stones. Some of the 
recent transactions of his life denoted that his piety 
was at a low ebb — he had deceived his venerable 
father — had enraged his brother, and was now a lonely 
fugitive, as the sun went down and shadows gathered 
over the city of Luz. Yet God, who regardeth not 
the pomp of kings, condescended to reveal himself in a 
vision to the one from whom a long line of kings, arid, 
at length, the King of kings should descend. It is 
from this wonderful vision rather than from the excla- 
mations of surprise in the text, that the doctrines of 
this discourse are to be drawn. In language of graphic- 
strength, yet of inimitable simplicity, inspiration thus 
describes the vision. 

And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went 
toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, 
and tarried there all night, because the sun was set ; 
and he took of the stones of that place, and put them 
for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. 
And he dreamed, and, behold, a ladder set up on the 



69 

earth, and the top of it reached to heaven : and be- 
hold, the angels of God ascending and descending on 
it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, 
I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the 
God of Isaac : the land whereon thou liest, to thee 
will I give it, and to thy seed ; and thy seed shall be 
as the dust of the earth ; and thou shalt spread abroad 
to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the 
south : and in thee and in thy seed shall all the fami- 
lies of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with 
thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou 
goest, and will bring thee again into this land ; for I 
will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have 
spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his 
sleep, and he said, surely the Lord is in this place ; 
and 1 knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, 
how dreadful is this place ! this is none other but the 
house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 

The vision unrolled before the mind of the slum- 
berer, not only the increase of his posterity in that 
very land where he had laid down his houseless head ; 
but also many consoling doctrines, that are as well in- 
tended to spread their consolations around our minds, 
as they were to cheer that lonely sleeper. 

There is a sublimity in the drapery of vision, or the 
scenic representation through which the counsels of 
the heavens descended and left their imprint on Jacob's 
soul. An aerial ladder was set upon the earth, and, 
to the eye, it looked like a highway, lifting itself up- 
wards. The sight followed the majestic pathway 
until it passed the stars and struck the empyrean near 



70 

by the throne of God. A living light burned along its 
immeasurable distances, casting a silvery ray on Ja- 
cob's forehead — the beautiful beings of a better world 
ascended and descended ; but, far more beautiful, 
blending loveliness with the intensely severe beauty of 
holiness, the Lord stood above it. Happy slumberer ! 
the eye of thy God is upon thee, the night of thy 
doubt — thy darkness — thy backsliding shall turn into 
the compressed splendors of immortal day, before the 
kindlings of that glorious vision which is full upon 
thee. 

The doctrine of the providence of God is seen dis- 
tinctly amidst the glowing imagery of this vision. The 
Lord stood above it. Angels might ascend and de- 
scend on a ladder that connected earth to heaven ; 
the songs of the upper world might linger on the night 
winds of Judea, and the fragrance of the celestial 
Eden burden the softly breathing zephyr, yet unless 
the Lord stood above all worlds, directing all the 
movements of nature's empire, and overruling the far 
wider empire of mind, small would be the Christian's 
hope, and diminutive the streams of his consolation. 
But now he knows — not only that his Redeemer liveth 
and that in the latter day he shall stand upon the earth — 
that his own eyes shall see him for himself, — but he 
knows that every event of his life is under a wise di- 
rection — that although the storm may rave— the fran- 
tic ocean change its dark, deep blue to foaming 
whiteness — the gallant bark under the frowning horrors 
of a preternatural darkness, may rush where the mad 
waters and eternal rocks, front to front, wage perpetual 



71 

warfare, — yet the long sought haven shall lift up its 
placid waves beyond the boundaries of storm, and the 
weather beaten, dismantled voyager shall open his 
eyes upon the sunny isles. The Lord is at the helm. 

The immortality of the soul, is another impressive 
doctrine taught by this vision. A voice sweeter than 
the harmonies of heaven rolled down the glorious 
pathway, and fell like measured numbers on the 
sleeper's ear, — 1 am the Lord God of Abraham, thy 
father, and the God of Isaac. Could the ancient 
heathens only have heard these words, they would 
have engraved them deeply on the unwasting face of 
the pyramids, they would have blazed in letters of 
gold on the temple of Delphos, and been indented in 
the caverned rocks of Avernus. God of Abraham— 
that faithful man whose bones had long rested in the 
vale of Mamre ; and God is the God of the living and 
not of the dead. How consoling the truth to him who 
sees the " desire of his eyes" wasting under the pow- 
er of disease, and feels the voice of the iron tongue of 
time on the pulsations of his heart, telling him that her 
hours are all numbered ; — and when the broken flower 
has drooped to the earth, and its fragrance has ex- 
haled with the sunbeam, with what a tender overflow- 
ing of heart he commits the angel spirit into the hands 
of the God of Abraham ! Go, says he, lovely one — 
we meet again — we meet again — thou art not dead, 
but sleepest. 

The faithfulness of God, is another doctrine taught 
in the vision. Behold, I am with thee, and will keep 
thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring 



72 

thee again into this land : for I will not leave thee, 
until I have done that which I have spoken. So the 
Christian, in every vicissitude of life, rests himself upon 
the promises and sets his seal to their precious truth. 
He takes God at his word, and does not fear what man 
can do against him. The bonds of commercial estab- 
lishments, the credit of national stocks, or the securi- 
ties of banks may all fail, and chilling poverty, with 
unwelcome tread, may eject the dweller in palaces, — 
yet the promises of God shall never fail, though the 
earth should resolve to its original elements, and the 
pure heavens pass away. 

Another beautiful doctrine derived from this vision, 
is, the ministry of angels. Napoleon may have been 
thought enthusiastic or visionary when he expressed 
his belief that he was attended, on his high destinies, 
by his guardian genius ; yet his belief becomes, to the 
mind of a Christian, a certainty. The forms of the 
heavenly ones, unseen indeed by mortal eyes, crowd 
the region of atmosphere where we dwell — on glorious 
errands of love they wing the aerial ocean, where 
countless systems swim in inconceivable grandeur — 
swifter than the rays of light they dart upon our earth, 
and minister to the saints. They often appeared at 
noonday, or at even, to the patriarchs — they were seen 
ascending and descending on the ladder of vision ; the 
prophet of the Lord, when beleaguered by his enemies, 
prayed that the veil might be lifted from the eyes of 
his faithful servant, when lo ; the hills were crown- 
ed with heavenly squadrons, surrounding the man 
of God. 



73 

Passing by the promise of a Saviour so clearly de- 
noted in this vision, that it must have shone like a bea- 
con light to the succeeding generations of the Jewish 
church, — time will only permit the remark, that a con- 
templation of these gracious words, fill the human soul 
with humility and deep feelings of reverence. How 
dreadful is this place ! will be the language of him 
whose pale forehead reflects the light of the visions of 
God. — Here, let us pause ; and although thousands of 
years have rolled away since the vision opened a shin- 
ing path into the heaven of heavens, let us gaze stead- 
fastly on its celestial imagery, while it lingers on the 
horizon of our mental perceptions ; — let us bow in 
adoration while the purified spirits ascend and descend ; 
— w T hile a light streams from the upper Eden — reveal- 
ing life and immortality, and the uncreated glories of 
the Lord our God, let us say, How dreadful is this 
place ! this is none other but the house of God, and 
this is the gate of heaven. 
7 



And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
lasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth. 
Rev. xiv. 6. 

Prophecy is generally expressed in the strongest 
and boldest figures. There is a divine sublimity in its 
language connected with the moral sublimity of thought. 
The text is a most beautiful specimen of descriptive 
imagery. An angel's form is seen breaking through 
the distant shadows, illuminating the blue heavens, and 
stretching his broad pinions over our world, having the 
everlasting Gospel to preach to all the dwellers upon 
earth. With a loud voice he commands all men to 
fear God, and give him glory, and announces that the 
hour of his judgment is come. 

An angel is a messenger of God, sent on some im- 
portant mission. The apostle informs us that angels 
are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them 
who shall be heirs of salvation. A minister, therefore, 
in Scripture language, is called an angel ; and the angel, 
mentioned in this passage, may correctly represent a 
minister of the Gospel, as it is his glorious privilege to 
have the everlasting Gospel to preach. Ministers are 



75 

sent forth to negotiate terms of reconciliation between 
the sovereign of the universe, and a world in arms. 
They stand between the living and the dead. Now, 
then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God 
did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, 
be ye reconciled to God. 

The angel is said to fly through the midst of heaven. 
Heaven, in this passage, signifies the church of true 
believers in this world ; but taken in its most enlarged 
sense, it extends all over the earth, wherever the foot- 
steps of man may be traced, or his dwellings dis- 
covered. 

Flying through the midst of heaven is significant 
of the elevated situation of the ministers of the Gospel • 
it gives a wide view of the immense field through 
which they are called to range. The sacred office of 
the ministry is the highest that men can occupy. The 
faithful and zealous ministers of the Lord Jesus move 
through the moral heavens as stars of the first magni- 
tude. 

To fly, denotes buoyancy and freedom. He who 
can claim apostolic authority for preaching the Gospel, 
is lifted above the prejudices that enslave the human 
mind. He acknowledges no master save Jesus — bows 
under no yoke but the light burden of his Gospel ; his 
views are liberal and extensive ; his mind compre- 
hends the noblest objects, glows with the purest fires, 
and feels an enlargement and brightness of vision that 
the clouds of this lower world can neither limit nor 
obscure. 

Pride, avarice, worldliness and the fear of man, are 



76 

not inmates of his soul. Raised to a height where the 
voice of the enemy and the breath of calumny can 
reach him only as trials of his faith — for no hand 
raised against him shall prosper, — he fears no weapons 
aimed against his spiritual peace ; — 

" Whate'er obstructs, obstructs in vain." 

In his eagle flight, overpassing every barrier, he soars 
aloft, free as air, through the wide prospect that opens 
before his wondering eyes, and his ardent soul would 
blow the trumpet of a preached Gospel, to arouse man- 
kind from their deathlike slumbers. 

To fly, implies rapidity and power. The ambas- 
sador of the Son of God is rapid and powerful in his 
movements. He sees that man is under infinite obli- 
gations to his Creator — that he is a rational, intelligent 
and accountable being — that he has a great work to 
do — that the time given him in which to accomplish 
it is short and uncertain, and that it is absolutely ne- 
cessary for him to work diligently, now while the day 
lasts, night being at hand, when our labors shall be 
brought to a final close, and the business we have neg- 
lected remain forever undone. 

These truths, so vast, so momentous, with many 
others of equal importance, added to a deep sense of 
the value of immortal souls, and his awful responsi- 
bility as an ambassador of the great and terrible God, — 
rush on his mind with a force that impels him to con- 
tinued, unwearied action. Instant in season, out of 
season, he pursues the object of his sacred mission, 
undisturbed by the elements of contention that war 



77 

around him. He looks down with a careless eye on 
the honors and frowns, the sorrows and enjoyments of 
earth ; while, with a zeal commensurate with the mag- 
nitude and importance of his holy calling, he fills up 
the measure of his usefulness, like the sun in the zenith, 
diffusing through an infinite number of lesser orbs the 
illuminating and invigorating beamings of divine in- 
struction, light and knowledge. 

His employment is — to preach. Sacred business — 
solemn service — a work deeply responsible— teeming 
with consequences which no human arm can avert — 
affecting the happiness of man to a wide extent in this 
life, and reaching throughout eternity ! To preach — 
literally to cry aloud and spare not — to lift up the 
voice like a trumpet, and sound an alarm in God's 
holy mountain. It is to do the work of an evangelist- — 
to tread in the path marked out by him who went 
about doing good — to enter every open door, and de- 
clare the whole counsel of God, delivering his message 
publicly and without dissimulation — standing up, in 
the strength of an expanded, enlightened mind, and 
sincere heart, for the defence of Bible truths — paying 
no compliments to the vices or follies of men — apply- 
ing no untempered mortar — singing no syren song, and 
hushing no well grounded fears. He warns the im- 
penitent, comforts the mourners in Zion, heals those 
who are sick of sin, binds up the broken hearted, 
soothes the truly penitent, and gives a fair, true, evan- 
gelical account of every man's state and condition 
before God, without fear or favor. 

His subject. The everlasting Gospel — good news 



. 78 

from heaven to the poor, perishing family of man — 
glad tidings of great joy — the revelation of God's mind 
and will in the redemption of the world by Jesus 
Christ, through means admirably calculated, by his 
goodness, mercy and love, to accomplish the renewal 
of fallen nature to its primeval beauty, glory and fe- 
licity. 

The Gospel. Christ crucified — not natural but re- 
vealed religion — not the religion of the head which is 
cold, dry and speculative, but the religion of the heart, 
which is warm, lively and operative — not the religion 
of the schools, but the religion of the Bible. 

The principles of this Gospel are fixed in the immu- 
tability of God's nature, attributes and perfections. 

The Gospel is not local in its operations, or partial 
in its acts of beneficence, and expressions of kindness 
and pity. It is generous, full and overflowing. Big- 
otry, party spirit, and selfishness, are not its kindred 
spirits ; the floods of contention never mingle with its 
waters of purity and peace. On the other hand, it 
knows where to pause, and fixes a point beyond w T hich 
it cannot go. Vice must not be fostered at the expense 
of virtue. The lines between them are defined, and 
cannot be passed over with impunity. Every grade 
and species of wickedness are at variance with the 
Gospel 5 otherwise all its peerless chasteness would 
vanish. It strengthens, never weakens, the bonds of 
civil order. It is the great bulwark of subordination 
and correct legislation — the test by which to distinguish 
between inclination and duty, and the rule by which to 
regulate a holy, self-denying, honorable life. 



79 

Before those who are ready to perish, the Gospel 
spreads a rich and ample feast, and invites them to 
partake of the heavenly viands on conditions sanctioned 
by the broad seal of heaven. A sincere, affectionate, 
and earnest offer of life and salvation, it gives to all 
mankind ; throwing wide open the door of hope, re- 
moving every obstacle, and bidding every son and 
daughter of Adam a hearty welcome to its unnum- 
bered benefits. 

The everlasting Gospel — because of its origin, na- 
ture and extent. It came from the Parent of being ; 
it hath sprung from his causeless benevolence, and is 
a fair type of his glorious perfections. Who, but the 
Almighty, could have devised such a plan, or laid the 
foundation for the display of so much mercy ? This 
Gospel saves to the uttermost. It is a holy emanation 
from him in whom is all possible excellence. It is 
able to supply the wants, and relieve the distresses 
of the whole human race, from its inexhaustable re- 
sources. 

It is emphatically the everlasting Gospel on account 
of its bearing on the decisions of the last day, when 
the destinies of all men shall be unalterably fixed by 
the appointed judge — its unerring statements forming 
the ground work of their admission to happiness or 
sentence to misery — for we shall be judged by this 
Gospel according to the deeds done in the body. 

The extent of his commission. The whole habitable 
globe is his parish. He is sent to all the dwellers 
upon earth. His commission is, — go ye into all the 
world and preach the Gospel to every creature. 



80 

The Great Head of the church was the first mis- 
sionary under the Gospel dispensation. He nobly cast 
himself into the field in its rough state, when it pre- 
sented the most formidable obstacles, and was possess- 
ed by mighty principalities and powers of darkness. 
He was, in the strictest sense, an itinerant preacher. 
He preached in the streets and lanes, the synagogues 
and market places of Jerusalem — the fields and moun- 
tains of Judea and shores of Galilee, without regard 
to nation, place, age, sex or condition. His successors, 
the Apostles, thought themselves honored by being 
permitted to tread in their master's footsteps. When 
they received the baptism of the cloven tongues, and 
were fully commissioned by the anointing of the spirit 
and the power of truth, they scattered themselves 
abroad over the Roman empire, preaching the ever- 
lasting Gospel with a divine unction, attended by signs 
and miracles. 

All ministers, however, are not evangelists. A va- 
riety of weighty considerations may limit their sphere 
of action, none of which can be said, in the least de- 
gree, to abate or affect the authority of their commis- 
sion to preach. We condemn no man for teaching a 
particular flock, seeing that in the economy of Chris- 
tianity the preachers of the Gospel are furnished with 
a diversity of gifts and qualifications. The Scriptures 
inform us that Christ has given some apostles, some 
prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and 
some teachers. But still, the Gospel ministry should 
be, in its general character, a circulating ministry. 



j 



81 

This subject teaches us that the ministers of Christ 
occupy a distinguished station in the world — a station 
elevated and commanding. They bear the most re- 
sponsible commission ever intrusted to mortal hands, and 
the destinies of millions, in a great degree, depend upon 
a faithful discharge of their duty — plain, pointed, without 
disguise and without hypocrisy. Ministers watch over 
sou l s — for souls that can never die — souls for whom the 
Saviour gave himself up to shame, and contempt, and 
death — souls that will strike the golden lyre among the 
blessed, or weep and wail in the comfortless, despair- 
ing deeps of ruin. We hence infer the necessity of a 
pure ministry. How dreadful is the character of an 
ungodly minister ! His sermons are charges against 
himself; his own mouth condemns him; he stands 
over the yawning pit ; from what a height of glory 
and felicity he must be hurled — how increased and 
aggravated will be his torments. Let us, then, who 
minister in holy things, pray earnestly for clean hands 
and pure hearts, so that, weaned from every unholy 
appetite, purified from every passion save an ardent 
love towards God and the souls of men, we may have 
both worlds always before our eyes, with the songs of 
the redeemed and the groans of the lost, ringing in our 
ears, and the voice of God pronouncing the irrevocable 
sentence. 

We learn that the work of the ministry is arduous, 
difficult and dangerous ; and that it must be prose- 
cuted at the hazard of ease, of property, and of life. 
Every step of the way is to be contested ; the heralds 
of peace have to contend with a hostility growing out 



82 

of peculiar circumstances. Their enemies are nu- 
merous ; the difficulties they have to encounter great, 
and the obstacles, thrown in their way, increasing in 
proportion to the courage and fortitude they display. 
But they fly through the midst of heaven, having a 
message to deliver to all on earth, which requires des- 
patch, — for the hour of judgment is at hand. 

He, on whom the vows of consecration rest, must 
look upon the lofty mountain of difficulty — the yawn- 
ing cavern, the steep and rugged precipice, without 
faltering. Whatever awaits him in his onward course, 
he cannot turn back. However great may be his per- 
ils, and sufferings, they afford no apology for him to 
relinquish the engagements he has made at the throne 
and the altar. He has enlisted during the war, en- 
tered the field, harnessed himself for the battle, and 
death can only release him from his allegiance to the 
captain of his salvation. 

The grand subject of the christian ministry is the 
everlasting Gospel. This is our theme. All our 
sermons should be fashioned after the likeness, and 
impressed with the features, of the great original. 
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is rich in materials to 
form the orator for God. The depositories of this 
Gospel are the Holy Scriptures ; these treasures can- 
not be used too freely in the Lord's service. To be 
successful in winning souls, we must be familiar with 
the Bible ; our language should be deeply imbued 
with its originality, chasteness and beauty. God will 
always honor his own word ; — even when delivered in 
weakness, it will go forth accomplishing mighty revo- 



lutions, elevating the moral standard of society, breath- 
ing celestial odours along the path of life, and chaining 
down the man of sin; while the subtle distinctions of 
the schools, the splendid scintillations of genius, of elo- 
quence, and learning, imsanctified, will entirely fail, or 
fall far short of the hopes that their brilliant efforts 
had inspired. 

Christian ministers realize tod seldom in what their 
great strength lies. Every victory won for Christ is 
won through Christ — he will have the glory, and be 
crowned Lord of all power and might. Our sufficien- 
cy, then, is of God ; our armor and our weapons from 
his revealed word. It was the strength of the Lord of 
hosts that rendered David, a stripling with only a scrip 
and stone, superior to Goliath of Gath, a giant, prac- 
tised in the arts of war, and armed with sword, shield 
and spear. 

The spirit, with which the christian ministry was im- 
bued in primitive times, is exhibited by this subject in 
the clearest and strongest light. It was this spirit that 
impelled the evangelists and first Christians to leave 
country and kindred to follow a life of unparalleled 
opposition and difficulty. The presence and the sanc- 
tion of this spirit is the watchword of the enterprising 
and the devoted. Reformers, moved by this spirit, 
burst the chains of an enslaved world. It breathed 
the breath of apostolic life into the young men who 
came forth from Oxford college, clothed with armor 
that had laid rusty for ages. It has not, as yet, for- 
saken the church. Its redeeming and successful course 
is not retrogade. We still feel its irresistible and sav- 



84 

ing power. The ministers of the true faith are stretch- 
ing themselves over the field, and varying the mode of 
attack. Their arms and equipments are becoming less 
cumbrous, and their manner of warfare more direct 
and spirited. 

Are any found in the ranks of this advancing army — 
are the feet of any impressing the same path in which 
the Redeemer of men loved to tread ? Let them 
fearlessly pursue the original purpose of their ascended 
Elijah, and wear his fallen mantle with an assurance 
that it is from the wardrobe of the skies. Let them 
rejoice that such is their noble designation, aside from 
the reflection that they are numbered with the bright- 
est constellations that ever adorned the christian hem- 
isphere. Comets, in their erratic flight, cause no alarm 
to the scientific or the discerning ; they trespass no 
law by which the heavenly bodies are governed ; they 
have their path, and move independently of others. 
So the apparently eccentric orbits, in which an itine- 
rating ministry move, are prescribed by the hand of 
order, and the truly pious begin to feel the utility, 
importance, and superiority of this ever moving dis- 
pensation of the sanctuary. 

To close — may we ever be found on the wings of 
the wind, flying through the midst of heaven, — never 
tiring in the work of the ministry, until the voice of 
the Holy One and watcher summoneth us to mingle 
with kindred spirits around the throne of God ! 



I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
the faith.— 2 Tim. iv. 7. 

When the Apostle penned these words, he was a 
prisoner at Rome, under close confinement, exposed 
to the vengeance of the cruel Nero, and expecting 
every moment to be dragged to the torture and fasten- 
ed on a tree. 

Aware of the speedy termination of his sufferings, 
and filled with bright anticipations of future glory, he 
broke out in the triumphant language of assurance, 
hope, and victory. I have fought a good fight, I have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith. 

The Apostle's course, which signifies his ministry 
and life, was difficult, laborious, and full of peril. 
Abundant proof of this we find in the Acts of the 
Apostles. There, at one time, we see this champion 
of the cross opposed by the whole council of the Jewish 
nation, and threatened with stripes and imprisonment. 
At another time, we behold him in the court of Areo- 
pagus, in the city of Athens, where he had been sum- 
moned to explain the nature of the enterprise in which 
8 



86 

he was engaged, and to account for the unexampled 
temerity of an appeal which called upon the Athenians 
to renounce their idols, to abolish their most holy rites, 
and to forsake their Pantheon for one only God. It 
does not seem possible for the mind to conceive a situ- 
ation of greater peril than that in which the Apostle 
was then placed. He stood beneath the canopy of 
heaven, upon the bare summit of a rock ; before him 
was spread out a sublime prospect of mountains, islands, 
seas, and skies ; behind him towered the lofty Acropo- 
lis, covered with all ils marble temples, the stately 
monuments of pagan pomp and superstition. He stood 
in the midst of the disciples of Socrates and Plato, the 
dogmatist of the porch, and the skeptic of the acade- 
my. There he stood firm and unmoved, enforcing the 
true religion upon his astonished audience, in open de- 
fiance of their law, which doomed to death the man 
who should dare to slight the celebration of the holy 
mysteries, or blaspheme the gods of Greece. 

He had to encounter the pride and prejudices of 
Jews and heathens ; and to answer for the strange 
course which he pursued, and the doctrines which he 
advanced, before the kings, and rulers, and the mighty 
ones of the earth. Even all these, great as they may 
seem, by no means reach to the full extent of his suf- 
ferings and peril. 

In Lystra he was stoned, and dragged out of the 
city apparently dead, but speedily recovering, and not 
daunted by his persecutors, he continued on his way, 
travelling through a number of cities, preaching the 
Gospel of the kingdom, working miracles, and estab- 



87 

lishing churches. We soon hear of him again in ano- 
ther city, charged by the magistrates as the introducer 
of a new religion, whipped with rods, committed to 
prison, and his feet fastened in stocks, singing the 
praises of God at midnight, with his fellow prisoner, 
Silas, and after being delivered from bondage, pursu- 
ing his accustomed work with unremitting ardor. 

In Jerusalem, where his Master had suffered, all the 
powers of wicked men and wicked angels assaulted 
him. There the whole multitude of the Jews, with 
the Pharisees and Sadducees at their head, thirsted for 
his blood. And even after he had escaped the popu- 
lar resentment, forty Jews bound themselves under an 
oath, by a terrible curse, that they would neither eat 
nor drink, till they had killed Paul. 

Still we have only a faint idea of the dangers to 
which he was continually exposed. He travelled 
through frightful and inhospitable deserts, encountering 
all manner of fatigue, and all kinds of peril — such as 
hunger, and thirst, and cold, and nakedness, and wea- 
riness, and watchings, — preaching to barbarous and 
savage nations, to the most polished and the most 
learned, continually tormented, condemned, imprisoned, 
beaten, stoned ; suffering all manner of contumely and 
reproach. 

Even the elements seemed to wage war against him. 
He was a day and a night in the great deep. In the 
island of Miletus, where he had found a harbor from 
the devouring billows, he was looked upon by the bar- 
barians as some ugly monster in human shape. 



88 

All this time, he bore about him the honorable marks 
of extreme suffering and hard labor. And no wonder, 
for his course was dark and dreary, full of briars and 
thorns, overgrown with poisonous weeds, and alive with 
the most venomous and blood-thirsty animals. He 
fought with beasts at Ephesus, and, in his most dread- 
ful conflicts with the powers of darkness, was alone 
and single-handed. And to add to all his other perils 
from without, he was exceedingly troubled with a thorn 
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him. 

He had, too, the care of all the churches, and, in 
the midst of his troubles, afflictions, sorrows, and pub- 
lic labors, wrote epistles to most of the principal 
cities in the world, and continued, to the time of his 
martyrdom, engaged in the great work of the ministry, 
knowing nothing among men save Jesus Christ and 
him crucified. 

To Paul, no place was a sanctuary, no temple a re- 
fuge. Wherever he cast his eyes, he saw the swords 
of his enemies waving, gulfs yawning, fetters, impris- 
onment, and the passage to the grave. 

He bore all these fatigues and trials with patience, 
resignation, and fortitude. Through the whole course 
of his ministry and life, he never flinched in the day of 
battle, nor trembled to meet the onset of a thousand 
foes. The post of honor to which he was raised, he 
defended with the bravery of a man and the fortitude 
of a christian, fighting at the most dreadful disadvan- 
tage, amid dangers of an appalling nature, undismayed 
and unmoved, presenting, in every trying situation, the 
glorious features of a true soldier of Jesus Christ. 



89 

As he had received his commission direct from 
heaven, he counted all worldly honor but dross when 
compared to the excellency of the sacred treasure 
given him by the Lord Jesus. The glittering charms 
of time and sense he despised, rejecting, like holy 
Moses, the splendid trophies of aspiring fame. It was 
the excellency of the religion of Jesus, disclosed to his 
mind by the power of the Holy Ghost, that won his 
great soul, and spurred him on to victory and con- 
quest. 

He, therefore, laid aside every weight and hin- 
drance, that might encumber him in his arduous work, 
suffered himself to be stripped for the race and har- 
nessed for the battle, and girding up his loins, re- 
solved in the strength of Israel's God, to tread in the 
footsteps of that same Jesus he once persecuted to 
death in the persons of his followers. Throwing him- 
self on the resources of his own mind, buoyed up by 
the spirit of the holy prophets, which had fallen on 
him at his first induction to the holy office, he moved 
forward through danger and suffering, not anxious to 
avoid either if in the path of duty, tampering not with 
sin, nor trimming between God and the world for gain 
or ease. 

He expressed cheerfulness and joy under suffering. 
We are troubled, says he, on every side, yet not dis- 
couraged ; we are perplexed, but not in despair ; per- 
secuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroy- 
ed. I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in 
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's 
8* 



90 

sake. His language at Ephesus, on taking an affecting 
leave of his brethren, was expressive of the elevated 
state of his mind. And now, behold, I go bound in 
the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall 
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth 
in every city, saying, that bonds and afflictions await 
me. But none of these things move me, neither count 
I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my 
course with joy. And when passing through Cesarea, 
he appeared in the same interesting light. — What mean 
ye, says he, to weep and break my heart ? for I am 
ready, not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusa- 
lem, for the name of the Lord Jesus. 

He was gloriously successful to the end of his course, 
because the hand of the Lord was with him. This is 
evident from the repeated assurances which God gave 
him of almighty strength, support, and guidance. — 
In visions of the night, angels appeared to strengthen 
his mind against the assaults of every enemy, bidding 
him be of good cheer. The divine agency rendered 
him invincible, as well as patient and resigned, under 
suffering, strengthened with all might by the Spirit in 
the inner man. What or whom should he fear ? 

" For he had wings, that neither sickness, pain, 
Nor penury could cripple or confine ; 
No nook so narrow, but he spread them there 
With ease and was at large. The oppressor held 
His body bound ; but knew not what a range 
His spirit took, unconscious of a chain ; 
And that to bind him was a vain attempt. 
Whom heaven approved." 



91 

He was gloriously successful to the end of his course. 
The arm of God was stretched out in his behalf, and 
signs and wonders were wrought by his word. For 
upwards of thirty years he had labored incessantly in 
the Lord's vineyard, extending the savor of divine love 
to every spot he visited, or to which he sent his writ- 
ings — encompassing sea and land, travelling over a vast 
portion of the then known world, and extending the 
Redeemer's kingdom from the east to the uttermost 
bounds of the west. He marched forth into the thick- 
est ranks of the enemy, vexing them with his incur- 
sions. Equipped with armor of divine proof, his only 
weapon the word of God, which is the sword of the 
Spirit, he rushed on his most puissant foes, assaulting 
them in all their strong holds. As he advanced, the 
temples of the gods were forsaken, the walls of super- 
stition tottered, and the spreading glories of the cross 
illumined the palaces of kings. His weapons prevailed 
against the potentates of the earth, the wisdom of the 
greatest philosophers, and on the ruins of Barbaric 
pride and Pontine luxury, he placed the simple majes- 
ty of the religion of the Galilean peasant. 

Behold this champion of the cross, after he had 
fought a good fight. See him coming in at the close 
of the glorious warfare. With what calmness and 
grandeur he looks down upon sufferings and death ! 
Truly they move him not ! The cross glitters on his 
bosom, his hand firmly grasps the sword of the Lord. 
A halo of glory encircles his brows — the sunshine of 
eternity gleams upon his countenance. 



92 

Happy Paul ! thy sun is going down in its bright- 
ness, growing larger as it sinks, like that luminary, 
throwing its golden splendors far and wide, over dis- 
tant lands, when itself is no longer visible to the eye. 
Thus departed this Prince of Apostles from the field 
of missionary enterprise, crowned with the laurels of 
victory and glory, to reap an eternal reward in the 
church triumphant above. 



Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish : for I work a work in 
your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a 
man declare it unto you. — Acts, xiii. 41. 

The work here spoken of is the redemption of the 
world by Jesus Christ. This glorious work originated 
in the benevolent purpose of the divine mind ; it was 
made known immediately after the apostacy of our 
first parents. In the fulness of time, a Saviour was to 
appear, in the nature of man, and become a propitia- 
tion for the sins of the whole world, and open a way 
for our restoration and recovery from the ruins of the 
fall. This is properly the work of God, because he is 
the cause of it, constantly presides over it, and will 
effect its final consummation. It is true, he sees fit, in 
infinite wisdom, to employ human instrumentality in 
this great work ; yet it is God that worketh in them, to 
will, and to do, of his good pleasure. As labourers in 
the vineyard of the Lord, we dig, we plant, we sow, 
we water, — but it is God only who giveth the increase. 
By this work, then, we understand the change of the 
carnal mind of man, his restoration to the moral image 



94 

of his holy Creator, and his preparation for the eternal 
enjoyment of God's presence and favor. 

As a special mean of advancing and completing this 
glorious work, God has established a church upon 
earth, against which the gates of hell can never pre- 
vail. There was a signal exhibition of the power and 
grace of God in the advancement of this work on the 
day of Pentecost, when three thousand were cut to the 
heart by the preaching of ignorant and illiterate men. 

Then the prediction of the prophet Joel, — In the last 
days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all 
flesh, — received its accomplishment, and the first spring 
was given to the renovating movements of Christianity 
among the heathen. 

Since that memorable era, this great work has been 
progressing ; it will increase and spread, until the 
knowledge of the Lord shall have enlightened the 
whole earth. This work shall triumph over all oppo- 
sition, until Christ's name becomes great among the 
Gentiles ; until every nation, tribe and people, under 
heaven, unite to render him universal homage. 

In what manner ■, and by what means, is this great 
work conducted ? Not after the manner of men, nor 
in accordance with their finite views ; but after the 
wisdom of God, whose prerogative it is to conduct it 
in that manner and by those means which will best 
conduce to his own glory, and the good of his intelli- 
gent universe. He first convinces the creature of his 
sin, — then humbles him under a rational sense of its 
guilt and malignant nature, that he may pardon, sanc- 
tify and exalt him far above his original purity and 



95 

elevation. It is this that bewilders the proud, the 
haughty, and the learned, who imagine, because they 
are unacquainted with the secret springs that move, 
and the wisdom that conducts .this work, that these 
things cannot be, or are the creations of a heated 
imagination, the offspring of priestcraft and fanaticism. 
But, 

" God moves in a mysterious way. 
His wonders to perform." 

All instruments and all means are in his power, and he 
uses a great variety, such as he pleases, in carrying on 
his work of redemption. He sends by whom he will 
send, and often chooses the most unlikely instruments 
to perform the noblest services, and to accomplish the 
most arduous undertakings. He hath put the treasure 
of his Gospel in earthen vessels, that the excellency 
of the power may be of God, and not of man — that no 
flesh may glory in his presence. 

The despisers of this work. The whole body of the 
Jewish nation did really pour scorn and contempt upon 
the blessed Jesus, and on the objects of his mission. 
Witness the manner in which they received the notice 
of his birth. They contemned his labors, disputed 
his miracles, abused his person, and took away his life. 
They were especially enraged at the success of his 
immediate followers ; and with the most barbarous 
severity, they opposed every effort to promulgate the 
doctrines of the Gospel, and promote the work of God. 
Nor are the Jews the only persons who despise this 
work. 

All backsliders show by their conduct that they de- 



96 

spise both Christ and his Gospel. Though once they 
appeared to be firmly established in the principles of 
Christianity, and by a well ordered life and conversa- 
tion, exhibited evidence to all of their piety and at- 
tachment to the cause of the Redeemer ; yet, alas ! 
they are now turned to the beggarly elements of this 
world, having made shipwreck of faith, and of a good 
conscience. They have trodden under foot the Son 
of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant, 
wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing, and 
have done despite unto the spirit of his grace. These 
are spots in our feasts of charity ; clouds they are 
without water, carried about of winds ; trees whose 
fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up 
by the roots ; raging waves of the sea, foaming out 
their own shame ; wandering stars, to whom is reserved 
the blackness of darkness forever. 

All profane persons, such as blasphemers, profane 
swearers, gamesters, drunkards, duellists, Sabbath- 
breakers, are virulent and active despisers of this work. 
It is unnecessary to prove this assertion. These char- 
acters constantly carry the proofs of their opposition 
about with them, and commonly glory in their shame. 

All professed infidels are open despisers of the Gos- 
pel of Christ. They ridicule revelation, sport them- 
selves at the operations of the Holy Spirit, and laugh 
at all whom they consider weak enough to believe in 
the genuineness and veracity of the Bible, and employ 
their blasphemous wits to burlesque its sacred contents. 
They not only laugh at christians, but they affect to 
pity their weakness, and lament the feebleness of their 



97 

intellect, as if their own foolish systems, unsupported 
by evidence, and in direct opposition to the best testi- 
mony, were worthy the assent of a wise man, or suita- 
ble to be chosen as the foundation of his hope for 
eternity. They habitually speak of christians, espe- 
cially the zealous sort, as weak and ignorant. Well, 
be it so. Disturb us not in the enjoyment of such a 
blessed weakness. It has opened to us a constant com- 
munion with our God ; afforded us a sense of pardon, 
peace and acceptance with him ; has disarmed death 
of its terrors, and given us an earnest of eternal felicity 
beyond the grave. But, there is a consideration, 
which is calculated to have more weight with infidels 
than the present happiness and immortal hopes of the 
christian faith. Though christians are said to be weak 
and ignorant, they are found in some respectable com- 
pany, even in this world. Locke anatomized the 
human mind, and accurately described its various pow- 
ers and operations. Boyle explored the secret springs 
of nature, and developed the causes of many of its 
phenomena. Newton traversed the starry regions, 
measured the heavenly bodies, and ascertained their 
relative magnitudes, distances, and periodical revolu- 
tions. These are names which stand first on the page 
of literary fame. Around their monuments is wreathed 
the everduring laurel. IWere these men imbecile? 
were their faculties of a pigmy growth ? in one word — 
were they infidels ? No : verily, they were christians. 
It was the religion of the Bible that blessed them in 
the decline of life, afforded them more sublime enjoy- 
ments than wealth, honor or renown can give, shed its 
9 



98 

sacred beams around them in the hour of their disso- 
lution, and cheered them quite through the dark valley 
of the shadow of death. 

We have the authority of scripture for adding, that 
all men, who are not really engaged in promoting the 
work of the Lord, are despisers of this work. Indeed, 
it is utterly impossible to maintain neutral ground re- 
specting the religion of Jesus. No man can serve two 
masters, says our blessed Lord, and he that gathereth 
not with me scattered! abroad. It is true that many, act-, 
ing entirely from self interested motives, are instrumen- 
tal of advancing the cause of the Redeemer, and would 
not openly oppose it. Others suppress their internal 
feelings towards this cause, for the sake of gaining an 
advantage over the people of God ; were it not so, 
christians would not long be permitted to worship God 
under their own vine and fig tree, none daring to make 
them afraid. But all, who are not cordially attached 
to this work from a supreme regard to its author, are 
cordially, though perhaps secretly, its despisers. 

The true causes of this contempt. Such is the natu- 
ral ignorance and moral darkness of men's minds, that, 
while in their natural state, they are incapable of dis- 
cerning the truth, beauty, and spirituality of the law of 
God. They are blinded by the god of this world — 
the allurements of time and sense, — the pleasures, the 
vanities, the follies of the world, which contribute to 
darken their mental vision, and call off their attention 
from the concerns of their souls. The unrenewed 
man loves these pleasures ; they are exactly suited to 
his corrupt and vitiated taste. It is, therefore, per- 



99 

fectly natural for men to despise and reject divine 
revelation, because it expressly prohibits their habitual 
abuse of the things of this world, and condemns sin 
itself, no matter what form it assumes, or what impos- 
ing character it supports, on pain of eternal punish- 
ment. 

Pride holds a high rank among the many causes of 
this contempt. Pride is firmly seated in the natural 
heart of man, and powerfully opposes every thing that 
threatens its dethronement. Pride is that self exalting 
principle which reigns triumphant in the carnal mind, 
and demands universal homage. This pride cannot 
bear the humbling doctrines of the Gospel ; they are 
too self abasing ; it will not stoop ; it will not descend 
from its Babel tower, and receive pardon solely on the 
ground of the atoning merit of a crucified Saviour. 
This is the detested point of degradation. This is the 
offence of the cross. Here the Jews stumbled, and 
fell, and were broken to pieces. Here the Greeks 
were confounded, bewildered, and lost. Here the 
infidel scoffs, and sneers, and embraces his own des- 
truction ; and here the incorrigible sinner gazes, and 
wonders, and, at last, eternally perishes ! 

Such are the rooted and deeply grounded prejudices 
of men's minds, that they will not believe, though one 
rose from the dead. The Jews, with the most irre- 
fragable evidence before their eyes, remained uncon- 
cerned, filled with prejudices, and in the face of the 
most direct and luminous displays of divine power, 
rejected the' Son of God, and crucified the Prince of 
life and glory. And, at the present day, let the truth 



100 

as it is in Jesus be declared, with the argumentative 
powers of a Paul, and with the eloquence of an Apol- 
los, supported in every word by the high authority of 
divine revelation, yet despisers would still remain har- 
dened ; would continue to mock and sport themselves 
with their own deceivings. They would harden their 
hearts, and fortify their minds, lest the light of the 
glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of the 
invisible God, should shine into their minds, and they 
should be converted. 

The consequences of despising this work of the Lord. 
They will be fatal. Despisers shall wonder, and then, 
perish — perish in this life, in the hour of death, in the 
day of eternity. 

They shall perish in this life. The Jews afford the 
most striking proof, if proof were necessary, of the truth 
of these awful predictions uttered against them ; they 
despised Christ, and have ever since been despised 
themselves. The words of our Lord have been lite- 
rally fulfilled respecting them, in the most exemplary 
manner. Not a jot nor a tittle of his predictions have 
failed. They have been scattered over the face of 
the earth, and still wander like wretched outcasts on 
the footstool of God. When the Roman soldiers en- 
tered and sacked their city, and set fire to their temple, 
they wondered, and perished. 

The expectations, which despisers, of all classes 
indulge from the fleeting objects of their idolatrous 
pursuits, are continually disappointing them. 

" They grasp the phantoms and they find them air. 55 



101 

Thousands fall into gross immoralities, which destroy 
their health, their prosperity, their all. The old age 
of despisers is dreary and comfortless. Nothing is 
then left them but a fearful looking for of judgment 
and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adver- 
saries. 

Despisers will wonder and perish at a dying hour. 
They may live without fear, continue for years careless 
and impenitent ; but when the minister of death ar- 
rives — when the fearful summons sounds in their ears, 
prepare to meet thy God, far other subjects, than the 
trifles of time will occupy their attention. They now 
feel it is a fearful thing to die unprepared. They 
wonder why they have lived so regardless of their 
God ; so neglectful of their immortal souls. They 
can say, O, the pain, but not the bliss of dying ! 
Where am I going, says the affrighted soul ? to what 
unknown regions ? — Eternity is the only answer. — Into 
whose presence ? — Into the presence of God Almighty, 
the Searcher of all hearts, the God of inflexible justice. 
Alas ! I am going ; but I dare not appear before him. 
I have sold myself for nought, I have robbed myself of 
a crown of inestimable value. O time ! time ! it is fit 
thou shouldest strike thy murderer to the heart. How 
art thou fled forever ! O, for a month, a week, a single 
day ! My frantic soul clings to earth ; but in vain — 
the world recedes — I am shivering on the brink of 
eternal ruin — I sink- — I die — I perish forever ! 

Despisers will wonder and perish at the last day. 
When they see the Judge enthroned, and the dead 
small and great stand before God ; when they see 
9* 



102 

the righteous applauded, and their own proud, selfish 
and obdurate hearts laid open, and their crimes 
made known ; — then will their false hopes all vanish — 
then will their fear come as desolation, and their des- 
truction as a whirlwind. Distress and anguish shall 
come upon them, and all the stings and horrors of a 
guilty conscience shall attend them forever and ever. 

This subject exhibits, in a strong light, the infatua- 
tion of all who, in this land of light and freedom, know 
not God and despise his work of grace. To all per- 
sons of this description, we would say, in the language 
and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, — ex- 
cept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Perish, some 
of you, arrested by death in the midst of revelry and 
dissipation, others in the full pursuit of wealth and 
fame — perish out of pious families, under the daily re- 
proof of parental example, at the very threshold of 
God's temple, from under the droppings of his sanctu- 
ary, and the presence of a faithful, heart searching 
ministry — perish amidst the full blaze of Gospel light, 
and Gospel love — perish, although exalted to the gates 
of heaven in point of privilege, in full view of the 
mansions of the redeemed — thrust down into the dark 
regions of eternal despair. 



I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher 
and an holy one came down from heaven ; He cried aloud, and 
said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off 
his leaves, and scatter his fruit : let the beasts get away from under 
it, and the fowls from his branches. — Daniel., iv. 13, 14. 

In the history of man, the existence of an over- 
ruling and controlling providence is marked and visible. 
Its mysterious agency has ever been abroad, and its 
operations, however misunderstood by the unenlight- 
ened, have been conducted on the principles of divine 
wisdom and goodness. From comparative obscurity 
and insignificance, nations have at once emerged, and 
risen to the pinnacle of splendor and dominion. Like 
the tree figured by the prophet's pencil, they have 
towered into strength and consequence, and extended 
their branches over wide regions ; but suddenly, in th« 
midst of all their pride, they have been stricken by the 
retributive lightnings of heaven, and have been pros- 
trated by the terrible concussion. 

The fall of Babylon, the queen of cities, is a striking 
illustration of the doctrine of divine providence. She 
had filled up the measure of her iniquities ; her over- 



104 

throw was certain, and the execution of a just judg- 
ment only awaited the signal of him who held the helm 
and conducted the movements of all worlds. But his 
long suffering kindness prevented the stroke of ven- 
geance. She was to receive another solemn lesson 
from the Almighty in the punishment of the great, the 
victorious Nebuchadnezzar before the thunder of his 
arm smote her to the dust. 

Various and complicated are the means by which a 
gracious providence calls mankind to a sense of their 
danger, while they are knowingly violating the lawful 
commands of God, and trampling upon his authority. 
Moses was startled by the appearance of a bush in 
flames, and yet unconsumed. The Jewish nation, at 
Sinai's base, trembled exceedingly while its summit 
was covered with the terribleness and majesty of God. 
Balaam was arrested by an angel with a drawn sword ; 
and here, a vision of the night troubled and alarmed a 
mighty king, even while surrounded by his imperial 
guard. The decorations of a gorgeous palace ceased 
to charm, neither could the sleepless monarch be lulled 
to rest by the dulcet sounds of the harp and lute. 

Daniel applied the interpretation of this vision to 
Nebuchadnezzar, and declared that the lofty tree was 
a representation of the stability of his throne, the great- 
ness and extent of his power, and faithfully warned 
him of an approaching and desolating tempest — to 
which no earthly power could bid defiance. 

I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, 
and the height thereof was great. Princes, great men, 
and nations, are frequently represented in Scripture 



105 

under the metaphor of fair and flourishing trees : — 
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair 
branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high 
stature ; and his top was among the thick boughs. 
The waters made him great, the deep set him up on 
high with her rivers running round about his plants, and 
sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. 
Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of 
the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his 
branches became long because of the multitude of 
waters when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven 
made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches 
did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, 
and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. Thus 
was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his 
branches : for his root was by great waters. The 
cedars in the garden of God could not hide him : the 
fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees 
were not like his branches ; nor any tree in the garden 
of God was like unto him in his beauty. I have made 
him fair by the multitude of his branches ; so that all 
the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, 
envied him. 

Nebuchadnezzar was universally celebrated for his 
wars and victories. The spoils of vanquished nations 
adorned his triumphal chariot, and the laurel of glory 
bloomed upon his brow. He held his brilliant court in 
Babylon — a city beautified and adorned with a variety 
of costly and stupendous works. It measured forty 
five miles in circumference, its walls were fifty cubits 
high, and their width was so great that six chariots 



106 

might drive abreast upon their summits. It was situ- 
ated on the Euphrates, was divided by a branch of 
that majestic river, over which a bridge was thrown, a 
furlong in length, at each end of which a magnificent 
palace rose to the view, glittering with gold and pre- 
eious stones. But these were not its chief embellish- 
ments — nor was Babylon considered one of the won- 
ders of the world, till its hundred brazen gates were 
set up, and the towers of Belus reared their impious 
turrets to the clouds, and Nebuchadnezzar's noble 
palace was erected, and the lofty hanging gardens 
caught the astonished sight. And now, after all his 
toils, he sat himself down in sumptuous ease, having 
shot up into the zenith of this world's grandeur, flour- 
ishing in health of body and vigor of soul, crowned 
with glory, and affluence, and having no enemy able to 
interrupt his repose. Thus, when he seemed most 
secure, an unseen hand fell heavily upon him ; the cup 
of felicity is dashed from his lips, and all his joys are, 
in a moment, blasted. A simple dream fills him with 
terror and dismay. So easily can God disturb the 
man of pleasure, whose ambitious projects are bearing 
the flowers of hope and promise, and, in a moment, in 
the twinkling of an eye, overwhelm him with the 
besom of destruction. 

Behold a ivatcher and a holy one came down from 
heaven. These words refer to the attendance of the 
evangelical orders on God's throne, to execute the 
commands of the Most High. Hence the title of the 
eyes of the Lord which has been applied to them. 
They exhibit the superintending providence of God, 



107 

entering into the circumstances of life, and taking cog- 
nizance of the affairs of men. 

He cried aloud. When the Almighty pronounces 
judgment, whether against nations or individuals, it is 
announced with accompanying manifestations expres- 
sive of the divine indignation. There is a crier sent 
forth. His voice is heard above the thunder, nor can 
the noise of many waters drown its unearthly utterance. 
. His anathemas echo along the hills. His invisible 
tread convulseth the earth ; the stoutest hearts are 
appalled, the haughty and the stubborn are bent, and 
broken under his maledictory sentence. 

He cried aloud and said thus, Hew down the tree, 
and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scat- 
ter his fruit. The sentence and the execution are al- 
most simultaneous. The Almighty seldom delays, for 
any considerable length of time, the stroke of retribu- 
tion, more especially when the culprit has had sufficient 
time and opportunity for repentance. In this instance, 
the sentence scarcely issues from the mouth of God- 
ere the victim feels the blow, and is seen writhing in 
the agonizing throes of a sudden and unexpected judg- 
ment. 

Nebuchadnezzar, having attained the summit of his 
proudest hopes, and taken his standing on an eminence 
conspicuous above the surrounding nations, approached 
the fatal limit. Like a field ripe for the sickle, his 
arrogance and pride had eminently prepared him for 
sudden destruction. He had impiously attributed his 
success and prosperity, the famous monuments he had 
erected to perpetuate his name and the memory of his 



108 

warlike achievements, and the acquisition of his untold 
treasures, wholly to his own wisdom and power, inde- 
pendent of any higher aid or divine interference. 
How egregiously he insults the heavens in the proud 
soliloquy which he uttered while walking in his palace. 
Is not this great Babylon which I have built for the 
house of my kingdom, and by the might of my power 
and for the honor of my majesty ! But hark ! — a 
voice from God's throne peals in his ears, hew down 
the tree. 

He is hurled from his dazzling height — stripped of 
his royal robes — banished from the society of men, 
and doomed to herd with the beasts that perish, eat 
the grass of the field, and tent under the dews of 
heaven. One blast of God's displeasure hath wrought 
this horrible ruin ! — So vain, so transitory are all the 
treasures of worldly accumulation, and the pomp and 
circumstance of princely aggrandizement. 

This subject is full of instruction. It inculcates 
several important and useful lessons. 

There are no stations in life, however elevated and 
enviable, beyond the influence of storm and tempest. 
There is nothing stable, certain, or of long continuance 
here. The mountain of our prosperity is doomed to 
be shaken. Though we should hope for a perpetua- 
tion of earthly felicities with the most intense desire ; 
and wisely, and diligently, provide against the ills of 
life, yet would the tide of joy be checked in its course, 
and our vain expectations be disappointed. Indeed, 
the elevated and seemingly secure may be considered 
in the greatest danger. The lightning always strikes 



109 

the objects it first encounters ; it spends its force upon 
the proud and the aspiring, and but seldom harms the 
unassuming and the lowly. He who grasps the world 
with the strongest arm, and clings to its excitements 
and pleasures with the greatest ardor, should never 
feel secure. But few, comparatively, who have at- 
tained the summit of their wishes, retain their standing 
beyond a given point, more especially if they have at- 
tempted, like Nebuchadnezzar, to assume a responsi- 
bility independent of that Great Being who presides 
over their destiny, and always punishes severely the 
least encroachment upon his authority and power. 

Let us, then, be guarded, lest prosperity prove our 
ruin. The hour of calm should be the hour of prepa- 
ration, of activity and wakefulness. Experience and 
revelation unite in testifying to this truth. We are 
daily called to be on the alert, to watch and pray, for 
at such an hour as we think not, we may be stricken 
down by the commissioned bolt, and ruined irre- 
coverably. 

A watcher — a holy one is at the helm. He moves 
unperceived in the splendors of mid-day ; — the most 
impalpable veils are pierced by his all-pervading pres- 
ence ; the bright places of the earth are full of him, 
and the mirrored heavens reflect his glory ; regions 
deserted and unlovely are animated by his voice, and 
the deepest caverns of the earth echo forth his praise. 
His hand is on the everlasting hills, and his breath is 
in all living things. The affairs of providence are 
under his control. His noiseless step accompanies us 
through every avenue of life, and never tires. He is 
10 



110 

about our path, and about our bed, and spieth out all 
our ways. Our most secret thoughts he scans ; every 
word we speak is noted down in the book of his re- 
membrance. He watches our motives, marks our 
actions, and pities our infirmities. He is ever with us, 
and ever ready and able to detect and punish us. 

" How careful then ought we to live 
With what religious fear !" 

This holy one has the prerogative of weighing us in 
the balances of the sanctuary, of counting our sands, 
and severing the brittle thread of life. His decree 
cannot be repealed. When he hath said the word, 
the condemned and sentenced must yield. 

Let us contemplate the destruction of him over 
whom the watcher and holy one have pronounced the 
sentence of condemnation. 

The axe is laid to the root of the tree, and those 
fibres that so tenderly interlace each other, and beauti- 
fully depict the fond endearments of life, and the close 
fellowship they have with our best feelings, and fond- 
est hopes, are torn asunder by its cruel strokes and 
left exposed, and bare, and lifeless, to the rude gaze 
of every beholder. His branches are cut off — those 
luxuriant boughs which constituted his chief strength and 
beauty — he is stripped of his leaves, his ornaments and 
pride. They fall yellow and sear to mingle with the 
clods of the valley — his scattered fruit are trampled 
upon like the mildewed produce of a blasted vineyard. 

Behold Napoleon, who once rode buoyant and fear- 
less, on the wave of glory — whose gigantic schemes 



Ill 

filled continental Europe with astonishment and dis- 
may, and at the touch of whose political wand nations 
crumbled into ruins, and thrones were shaken to their 
foundations. Where now is this great man ! Where 
abideth this terror of kings, and of nations ? Behold ! 
his ashes sleep at the threshold of a cottage, upon a 
rock, which is but a speck in the mighty deep. 

There is a warning voice out among men ; it is 
heard amid the roar of mirth, and in the bustle and 
hum of business, it falls with an appalling distinctness 
upon the soul. In the still hour of night and of soli- 
tude, it utters sounds of terror and alarm ; it is never 
silent ; it slumbers not ; it is echoed from the house of 
mourning and from the vaults of the dead — from the 
pulpit, and from the records of the past. Time in his 
rapid flight gives assent to its solemn, weighty appeals, 
and the secret recesses of every heart, reverberate the 
serious calls it so repeatedly gives. Thus a good God 
calls to his aid auxiliaries from every quarter, and 
sends them forth to press upon the subjects of his 
moral government the counsels of heaven, that they 
may escape the dreadful judgments denounced against 
the impenitent. 

Finally — we may be one day safely moored in the 
harbor of life, with our streamers gaily kissing the 
breezes of prosperity — and, the next, torn from our 
moorings, and driven out on the mountain surges of a 
dark and frightful sea. One hour, in the bosom of 
peace and security, — and the next, torn from friends, 
from home, and happiness, to roam unsheltered on the 
pathless deeps of an unexplored ocean. Now — slum- 



112 

bering on the lap of ease, and now — awake to the ter- 
rors of a guilty conscience, covered with shame, and 
shuddering with horror over a gulf that has swallowed 
up our hopes, and yawns to receive us, while the 
watcher and the holy one are ready to pronounce the 
fatal words — arise, let us go hence. Hew down the 
tree, and cut of his branches, shake off his leaves, and 
scatter his fruit. 



ye dry bones, hear ye the word of the Lord.— Ezekiel, xxxvii. 4. 

These words, in their historical relation, have a 
primary reference to the restoration of the Jews ; but 
spiritually considered, they are intended for our in- 
struction in godliness, to make us wise unto salva- 
tion. 

THE PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF A TRUE PROPHET. 

The hand of the Lord was upon him. The hand of 
the Lord implies power. The Lord commissions and 
empowers men whom he chooses to declare salvation 
to a lost world. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon 
them, and they- are anointed to preach the Gospel. 
Yea, even necessity is laid upon them, and a wo de- 
nounced against them, if they preach not the Gospel. 
It is asked, How can they preach unless they be sent ? 
The Almighty answers the question, and assumes the 
prerogative of sending ministers into his vineyard 
wholly to himself. I will send, says he, by whom I 
will send. Hence the church of England, in her ordi- 
10* 



114 

nation service, very properly requires candidates for 
the ministry to declare themselves inwardly moved by 
the Holy Ghost to preach the Gospel. Th£ first fea- 
ture, then, by which we can distinguish a true prophet, 
is in the authority by which he officiates. 

And these signs shall follow. The effect will be 
equal to the cause. If God sends the prophet, and 
authorises him to preach, the spirit of the prophecy 
and the divine illumination from above will attend his 
word. There will be a voice within a voice. The 
signs of his apostleship will accompany him — the sound 
of his Master's footsteps will be heard behind him. — 
For God sends no minister a warfare at his own charge. 
He promises to be with them to the end, that his word 
which they speak shall not return void, but accomplish 
the great purpose for which it was intended. 

This divine authority, accompanying the word to the 
hearts and consciences of men, is the touchstone ; for 
we fail in preaching without the assistance of the Holy 
Spirit. It is the Spirit which makes alive, the letter 
only kills. 

" The still small voice is wanted ; He must speak, 
Whose word at once leaps forth to its effect, 
Who calls for things that are not, and they come." 

Human learning, without divine aid, is vain, is idle. — 
Our discourses may be correct and beautiful, richly 
embellished with the flowers of literature ; regular in 
all their parts, and combining every thing grand and 
sublime in their composition, but without the accom- 
panying influences of the good Spirit, they will be like 



115 

sounding brass or the tinkling of a cymbal. The Gos- 
pel which cannot be felt and realised, and has no power 
in it, is not the Gospel which was taught by our Lord 
and his disciples, nor the Gospel which has brought 
life and immortality to light. — The next feature of the 
true prophet is the energy and spirit by which he is 
animated. 

He has a discovery of the state of mankind by na- 
ture. And the prophet was set down in the midst of 
the valley, and he was caused to pass by them and 
round about them, and behold, there were very many 
in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. 

He has a lively representation of the wretched, ru- 
ined, and undone state of his fellow men. He sees the 
millions who are lying composed and apparently con- 
tented in the open valley of an unconverted state. He 
sees the sword of God drawn upon them. He reads 
the hand writing which condemns them. He hears the 
fiery law denouncing its vengeance and uttering its 
anathemas. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the 
Lord, he persuades men. With earnestness, accompa- 
nied by tears and prayers, he implores poor impenitent 
sinners to be reconciled to God, lest, by persisting in 
their rebellion, they should be suddenly consumed and 
destroyed without remedy. Deeply imbued with a 
sense of man's fallen and undone condition, and seeing 
no way of recovery, save by an entire, full, and instant 
submission to the requirements of the Gospel, he shakes 
them with the thunders of the world to come, and ring- 
ing the dreadful peal which announces perdition to the 
finally incorrigible, never gives up his suit till they have 



116 

grounded their weapons of warfare, and paid their 
vows at the feet of the Crucified. Love for immortal 
souls is another most important feature by which a true 
prophet of the Lord is distinguished. 

He is obedient to the heavenly command. So 1 pro- 
phesied as I was commanded. Then I said I will 
speak no more in his name, but his word was a fire shut 
up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and 
I could not stay. He may tremble in view of his great 
responsibility, and exclaim with Jeremiah, Ah, Lord 
God, I cannot speak, for I am but a child — or with the 
great apostle, Who is sufficient for these things ? But 
encouraged by the voice of Him who dwelt in the bush, 
saying, Be not afraid of their faces, for 1 am with thee 
to deliver thee — fear not, be strong, quit you like men ; 
for I am with thee always, and I will be a mouth and 
a wisdom to thee ; — he puts the trumpet to his lips, 
and sounds an alarm on the heights of Zion. Like 
Moses, he stands up in the gate of the camp of Israel, 
and cries aloud, Who is on the Lord's side ? — and fear- 
lessly delivers his message, regardless of the tide of 
popular opinion, the number, strength, or prowess of 
his enemies. 

A true prophet is sent of God, and qualified with all 
necessary gifts and graces to render him an able and 
successful minister of the covenant of mercy. 

THE CHARACTERS TO WHOM HE IS SENT TO PROPHECY. 

They are here represented under the figure of dry 
bones. — Son of man, these dry bones are the whole 
house of Israel. 



117 

They were dead. It is written, man is dead in tres- 
passes and sins. To be carnally minded is death. By 
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, 
and so death hath passed upon all men, for all have 
sinned. Not merely temporal but spiritual death, be- 
ing a separation from God by reason of sin. For sin, 
entering into every power of the soul, has contamin- 
ated the whole man, binding him up in ignorance, un- 
belief, and folly, and exercising a most unnatural do- 
minion over all his energies and faculties. But as in 
every particle of matter there is a principle of fire, so 
in dead sinners there is a principle of life, a dim per- 
ception of divine light, an emanation from that light 
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 
This is the grace of God which hath appeared unto all 
men. 

They were very dry. This is highly expressive of 
the sinner's lamentable condition. Having no spiritual 
life, that is, none in action, no spiritual enjoyment. 
Not being grafted in Christ, the true and living Vine, 
they are without proper nourishment ; and must, in time, 
if not resuscitated, become dead branches, parched, 
and the living principle wholly extinct, to be cast out 
into the valley of despair and gathered up and thrown 
into that fire prepared for the devil and his angels. — 
And inasmuch as branches thus severed will gradually 
die of themselves and become useless, or fit only for 
the fire, so will poor sinners, if they neglect the day 
of grace, and trifle with the merciful offers of salva- 
tion. 

They were in the open valley. Out of their proper 



118 

places, not answering the great ends for which they 
were created, being originally formed for the noblest 
purposes, even for the love and enjoyment of the great 
God. How can men be said to answer these ends, if 
they take every method they can devise to banish the 
important concerns of a future state from their minds, 
serving sin and following the devices and desires of 
their own evil hearts, and that continually ; permitting 
the god of this world to usurp that place in their affec- 
tions which is the rightful throne of the sovereign of 
the universe. Such a course of conduct is irrational. 
It throws man out of his proper orbit, mars his relations 
to God, to other beings, and himself, lessens the force 
of moral obligation, counteracts the gracious designs of 
his Creator, rendering him a burden and an embarrass- 
ment in the scale of moral and intellectual existence. 
They had no sinews, nor flesh, nor covering upon 
them. Not even the form of godliness, nor the slight- 
est mark or token by which the prophet could distin- 
guish them as human. What a fit resemblance do 
they bear to outrageous, incorrigible offenders, who 
have thrown off all religious restraint, and make it their 
study to ridicule the operations of the divine Spirit. 
How many beings live in a manner worse than brutes ! 
What a monster is the man who is forgetful of his God ! 
A wonder amongst the beasts that perish ! — above them 
with respect to intelligence and rationality; but far be- 
low them in answering the purposes of his high and 
noble origin. Who would trifle on a scaffold, or frolic 
in the midst of devouring flames ? None but fools or 
madmen ! 



119 

" 'Tis a fearful spectacle to see 
So many maniacs dancing in their chains ; 
They gaze upon the links that hold them fast 
With eyes of anguish, execrate their lot. 
Then shake them in despair, and dance again." 

They were in their graves, surrounded with corrup- 
tion, dust, and worms, full of all manner of diseases, 
yet fancying themselves in perfect health. In a word, 
poor sinners dwell in darkness and in the valley of the 
shadow of death. 

THE SUBJECT MATTER OF HIS PROPHECY. 

The word of the Lord, not the word of man. The 
Lord said to Jonah, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great 
city, and preach unto it the preaching I bid thee. And 
the prophet Micah said to the king of Israel's messen- 
gers, As the Lord liveth, even what my God saith, 
that will I speak. My preaching, says Paul, was not 
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demon- 
stration- of the Spirit and with power ; for Christ sent 
me to preach the Gospel, not with the wisdom of 
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none 
effect. And again, We preach not ourselves, but 
Christ Jesus the Lord. 

This word we preach, Christ the power of (iod and 
the wisdom of God. This was the preaching of the 
apostolic age. It was the preaching of the primitive 
fathers of the church ; it is Bible preaching. Christ 
crucified is our theme. It is the motto upon our ban- 
ner. It is the beginning, the continuance, and the end 
of all our ministrations. Indeed, Christ crucified is the 
only true foundation of all Gospel preaching. 



120 

This word proclaims life from the dead. Has man 
a dead soul ? Christ is the resurrection and the life. — 
The voice divine is, awake thou that sleepest, and 
Christ shall give thee life. 

This word is also made spirit and life, for Christ is 
a quickening spirit. It comes in power, and in the 
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. Is not my word 
like a fire and a hammer, saith the Lord. It breaks 
the impenitent heart, it enkindles holy ardor in the 
soul. It is quick and powerful, and sharper than any 
two-edged sword, dividing asunder soul and spirit, 
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts 
and intents of the heart. 

This word, like the sword of the cherubim, moves 
every way to guard the tree of life. It is a flaming 
sword to the ungodly, and to the christian soldier it is 
both a guard and a light. Like Israel's pillar of fire, 
it guides him through the enemy's country in safety to 
the promised Canaan. 

We preach Christ. Here we fix our determined 
stand. Here we lay the corner stone of our building, 
and while skeptics are blundering in the dark, and in- 
fidels using their blasphemous wits to asperse the doc- 
trines of the Gospel, and to tarnish the bright lustre of 
its glorious founder, we will urge our way through 
their opposing ranks, and preach the living word of the 
living God, which has power on earth to raise the dead 
to life. 

Some may be ready to inquire, How can these things 
be ? Can these dry bones live ? We answer : This 
earth was once without form and void, and darkness 



121 

was upon the face of the great deep, and the Spirit of 
God moved upon the waters ; and God said, let there 
be light, and there was light ; and God created the 
heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all that is 
therein. 

We ask in return, how were these wonders perform- 
ed ? Can we by searching find out God ? He who 
hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, 
and meted out the heavens with the span, and compre- 
hended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed 
the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance ; 
who doeth great things past finding out ; yea, and 
wonders without number ! Can we know how he 
causes a blade of grass to spring from the earth, how 
the seasons change, and suns, and moons, and stars 
remain fixed, or revolve through yonder boundless 
space f Answer who can. 

" Enwrap creation, travel up 



To the sharp peak of her sublimest height 
And tell us whence the stars, why some are fix'd, 
And planetary some ; what gave them first 
Rotation, from what fountain flowed their light." 

Finally, we preach that same Jesus who called forth 
Lazarus from his grave ; in the streets of Nain wrested 
the prey from the mighty ; at whose last groan the 
earth shook to her centre, the sun hid his face, the 
stars refused to shine, the rocks brake in pieces, the 
graves gave up their dead, and by virtue of whose 
name all manner of signs and wonders were wrought 
by the apostles and others in the early ages of Chris- 
tianity. 

11 



122 

He it is, and him only we preach, who hath bowed 
the heavens and come down — who hath plucked up 
the mountains of our sins that stood in his way, and 
cast them into the depths of the sea — who hath sent 
his hand from above and saved us, and delivered us 
out of the great waters ; — yea, he hath plucked us as 
brands out of the burning. 

And I prophesied as I was commanded. Oh, ye 
dry bones, hear the word of the Lord ! Awake ! 
God calls upon you by my mouth — by the word of 
reconciliation — by the triumphant testimony of dying 
saints — by the prophets and evangelists, who though 
dead still speak — by the blood of the holy mar- 
tyrs — by the ashes of the venerable dead — by the 
shades of your pious ministers — by the miseries of our 
frail nature — by the joys of the redeemed, and by the 
sorrows of the lost. 

Spirit of the Lord God move over this valley of dry 
bones, and cause bone to come to its bone. * * * Ye 
four winds ; breathe upon these slain. 

I have a message from God to thee ! Up ! get you 
out of this city — its name is destruction ! What mean- 
est thou, O sleeper, arise, and call upon thy God. 



THE JUDGMENT DAY. 

Our attention is not called to matters of a specu- 
lative nature, nor are our feelings arrested to pay the 
tribute of a tear or a sigh to the memory of the virtu- 
ous dead. It is not a splendid representation of empty 
trifles to which we are invited ; nor is our pencil dip- 
ped in the visionary colors of the poet. Ours is a 
loftier theme — a subject of stupendous moment, to 
which the events of millions of ages bear no proportion, 
and in which are involved the destinies of all man- 
kind. 

Treading on consecrated ground we unloose the 
sandals from off our feet, and with trembling hands lift 
the curtain of eternity. 

The drama of the Judgment day is our theme. 

" That day of dread derision and despair ! 
'Tis present to my thoughts — yet where is it ? 
Angels can't tell me ; angels cannot guess 
The period, from created beings lock'd 
In darkness." 



124 



THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 



As all great and terrible events in the natural world 
are generally preceded by a stillness prophetic of their 
near approach, the eve preceding that day for which all 
other days are made, will be calm and unruffled, and an 
unusual serenity will pervade creation : the heavenly 
bodies will shine out unrivalled in beauty, and perform 
their various revolutions with the same precision as 
when first formed, and not a speck or a cloud dim the 
vaulted skies. 

The awfully portentous day will open with the most 
tremendous displays of God's Eternal Majesty. Every 
thing which can strike terror to the heart of man will 
be introduced. Already every gem in the diadem of 
night is quenched in darkness — the king of day is shorn 
of his resplendent beams, and the pale, silvery light of 
the moon changed to a crimson, bloody hue. 

" In grandeur terrible all heaven descend, 
A swift archangel with his golden wing, 
As clouds and blots, that darken and disgrace 
The scene divine, sweeps stars and suns aside : 
And thus, all dross remov'd, heaven's own pure day 
Full on the confines of our ether flames." 

The trump of God will then be heard, thundering 
through the vast profound ; and in a moment, in the 
twinkling of an eye, monuments are burst asunder — the 
charnel houses of the dead opened — the foundations 
of the great deep bared, and the dead, who had slept 
from time immemorial, bursting their bonds, start up in 
promiscuous crowds, shaking off the slumber of ages., 
and awaking to endless joy or hopeless misery. 



125 

" Such shall the noise be, and the wild disorder, 
If things eternal may be like things earthly, 
Such the dire terror when the great Archangel 
Shakes the creation." 

The Judge will then appear ; the man who stood at 
Pilate's bar, the once afflicted, persecuted, and slain 
Jesus. But O, how changed ! In majesty terrible, 
he descends with a shout, with the voice of the 
Archangel and the trump of God ; ten thousand thun- 
ders roll before him ; his precursors gleam far and 
wide over the heavens ; myriads of dazzling squadrons 
of bright angelic spirits attend him to his burning throne. 
Hallelujahs and acclamations of joy strike the lofty 
dome, and shake universal nature. 

No just nor adequate conceptions can he formed of 
the vastness and splendor of this august tribunal. The 
thrones of the sceptered Caesars, the arbiters of 
worlds, with all the pomp and magnificence of the 
universe dwindle into insignificance, vanity, and no- 
thingness in comparison. Innumerable companies of 
angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, hang 
in rich and glorious clusters around it. 

Flashes of fire issue from the Eternal's presence, 
and flaming cherubs encircle his footstool. 

Before this tribunal we must all stand, — all who 
have ever existed from the beginning of the world, and 
none shall be able to withstand or elude the summons. 
Were they to take the wings of the morning and fly to 
the remotest regions of space and observation, or 
shroud themselves in the dark abyss of that dreary gulf 
which separates hell from heaven, they would be sought 
11* 



126 

out by the ministers of justice and hurried into the 
presence of the judge of the quick and dead. No 
shelter will be afforded them in all the immensity of 
creation, nor among the deep intricacies of unbounded 
nature. Every hiding place will be explored and made 
manifest by that great Being with whom there is no 
darkness nor uncertainty, nothing hidden nor myste- 
rious. 

We might as easily number the drops of the ocean, 
or the sands on its shores, the stars that glitter in the 
blue of heaven, or the leaves on the trees, as count the 
persons to be judged. Their number will exceed the 
utmost stretch of human calculation. 

If this earth bears at one time eight hundred millions 
of souls, what a vast congregation will all the genera- 
tions make which have succeeded each other for near 
five thousand years and may continue to people our 
world till the general judgment. 

All the inhabitants of other worlds, if there are any 
on those brilliant orbs floating in the immeasurable 
fields of space — they will hear the dreadful trump of 
God echoing from the portals of the sky, and crowd to 
meet him in the air. 

We must all stand there. The illustrious and the 
obscure — the soldier and statesman — the blooming 
youth and venerable sire — small and great — rich and 
poor. Death is no respecter of persons. He knows 
no distinctions among men. In a few short years we 
must pass off the stage of time and be swept into the 
oblivious wave, until, reanimated by the voice of God, 



127 

we take our station before the great white throne, and 
tremble or rejoice to hear our final sentence. 

The day is broke which never more shall close. 
The great assize is come. The tutelary and destroying 
angels are returned. They have stopped the wheels of 
time ; they have unlocked the dreary prisons of the 
dead, and thrown open the gates of hell. The heav- 
enly orders, with the saints who are to judge the world, 
are placed in shining circles, or on fiery chariots wait 
in silent, awful expectation. The long expected trial 
of men and wicked angels is begun. 

"I see the Judge enthron'd, the flaming guard, 
The volume opened, open'd every heart, 
A sunbeam pointing out each secret thought." 

A TREMBLING WORLD IS PLACED AT THE BAR. 

And now all that has been done in the body is made 
manifest, whether it was good or whether it was evih 
Every heart is bared, and the principles and emotions 
of every conscience exposed. The grand inquiry is 
made. What were the motives which actuated us in 
our several pursuits — the principles upon which we fix- 
ed our hopes, or raised our expectations ? Were they 
of such a pure and evangelical nature as shall now 
bear the test — as shall now stand the fiery ordeal ? 

The hypocrite's hopes vanish into air — his thin dis- 
guise falls off, and all his false and borrowed beauty 
withers. To his horror and confusion, he is unmasked 
before those upon whom he had imposed by fair 
speeches and false pretensions to godliness. 



128 

The blood-thirsty conqueror, the tyrannical and 
cruel monarch, the ermined noble, and the proud pre- 
late, levelled now to the condition of the meanest slave, 
await their trial in dread uncertainty and despair — 
shuddering at the punishments which await them. 

See the promiscuous crowds — heaps on heaps are 
seen on every side, as far as eye can reach, or dis- 
embodied spirits ken — no measure to the lengthened 
space — no bounds, no limits set. They wail, big with 
horror, and overwhelmed with despair. 

Here stands a group of frighted Jews — their fea- 
tures distorted, and their bitter wailings the prelude to 
the beginnings and outbreakings of their approaching 
misery. 

There is a motley crew, apparently worked up to 
the most fearful looking for of wrath and indignation. 
Those are the men who dipped their pens in the waters 
of Meribah — who. in their sacrilegious phrenzy, called 
the blessed Jesus imposter, and whose impious tongues 
uttered the foulest blasphemies. 

Yonder is a multitude no man can number, compos- 
ed of different grades of character, from all neutrals in 
religion down to the basest of the human race. 

On the right of these a glorious company advances. 
Numbers join them on every hand of various nations, 
kindreds, tongues, and people. Here are Europeans 
and Americans — the children of Africa — the sons and 
daughters of Asia, and the red tribes of the wilderness. 
Here are all colors, all degrees, and all orders of 
men. Who are these'? — Their appearance bespeaks 
their origin celestial, and their birth divine. A calm 



129 

serenity, a placid resignation, a holy joy sits triumphant 
on each brow. 

These are they who bathed their garments in dust 
and blood, having warred an honorable warfare, con- 
tended valiantly for the faith of the Gospel, and, even 
in the hour of their greatest extremity, triumphed over 
the combined powers of earth and hell. Their near 
alliance to the Prince of the kings of the earth, is now 
acknowledged in the most public manner in the pre- 
sence of men, and of angels, and of the God of angels. 

Behold that company of weather beaten, worn out 
veterans, coming forward like a mighty army, distin- 
guished by their heroic bearing and scarred honors. 
Those are the patriarchs, the worthies of Israel, the 
holy prophets, the evangelists, the blessed martyrs, 
the intrepid reformers in various ages of the christian 
church, the missionaries of the cross to heathen lands, 
the devoted and zealous ministers of Christ, whose 
valiant deeds are registered before the throne of God. 

And now all mysteries are unravelled. The dis- 
pensations of olden times rendered simple and easy. 
The mysterious scenery of Jewish and Gospel days 
displayed and explained before the wondering eyes of 
all God's intelligences — and, in all the announcements 
of the divine character, in the various and hidden di- 
rections given to the complicated movements of the 
whole, are seen, mingled together like the colors of the 
rainbow in beautiful unison, the stern features of his 
justice, the mild traces of his love and mercy, and the 
brightest beamings of his majesty and glory. The 
obscurity is removed from the history of the world, and 



130 

the most perfect arrangement, symmetry and beauty 
are discoverable in all the ways, works, and designs of 
providence. 

The wicked stand confounded ; the apologising and 
the sophist are silenced, and the infidel abashed and 
humbled. They hear and see and know now, who the 
Almighty whom they rejected, despised and confron- 
ted, is ; and begin to feel the full force of his vengeful 
arm. 

The trial closes, the great decision is made, the se- 
paration line drawn, and the sentence pronounced on 
the evil and the good. 

On the good. And then shall the king say unto 
them on his right hand, come, ye blessed of my Father, 
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda- 
tion of the world. 

Had we an angel's pencil, we might pourtray the 
glory and the felicity, which will be the portion of the 
saints of God in the realms of uncreated light. But 
the brightest seraph before his throne, would be in- 
adequate to the task. Shall we, then, poor mortals, 
whose powers are circumscribed, confined to earth, 
and clogged with the incumbrances of flesh, presump- 
tuously aspire to paint, the bliss, the joy, the full fruition 
of a state so glorious — a happiness so complete, so 
consummate ? 

On the evil. Here we are equally at a loss, nor 
are we able, to describe the horrors, the sorrows of 
the despairing ones. Were it possible for us to dis- 
close the secrets of their prison-house, the discovery 
would conjure up feelings the most indescribable, the 



131 

most terrific and heart appalling ; none would be unin- 
terested. The trifler would be awed into solemnity ; 
the careless and the unconcerned awakened and arous- 
ed. How fearfully should we look around us and ask 
the dreadful question, can we dwell in everlasting flames, 
or lie down in devouring fire ? What heart searchings 
would commence, what tears of true repentance deluge 
the footstool of mercy ! What inward groanings — what 
bitter outcries — what fearful anticipations — what strong 
resolutions — what solemn promises of future amend- 
ment — what fervent prayers — what overwhelming pe- 
titions ! Heaven would be assailed with holy violence ; 
every heart would be pierced through and through 
with the most agonizing reflections, and heave sighs so 
piteous, and so mournful, that they would finally issue 
in general lamentations of sorrow and grief. 

" Heaven gives the needful but neglected call ; 
What day, what hour, but knocks at human hearts 
To wake the soul to sense of future scenes." 

The execution of the sentence pronounced upon our 
world. For the heaven, and the earth, which are 
now, are reserved unto fire, against the day of judg- 
ment and perdition of ungodly men. 



At that destin'd hour, 



By the loud trumpet summon'd to the charge, 
See all the formidable sons of fire, 
Eruptions, earthquakes, comets, lightnings, play 
Their various engines, all at once disgorge 
Their blazing magazines, and take by storm 
This poor, terrestrial citadel of man." 

Those immense magazines of liquid fire, that are 
confined in the centre of the earth, will then burst 



132 

forth with terrible explosions. ./Etna and Vesuvius 
will open their huge jaws, and emit burning lava and 
fragments of rocks heated for destruction. Thick 
clouds of vapour and smoke will roll down the hills and 
cover the distant plains. The elemental war commen- 
ces. Fire and water, air and earth commingle to- 
gether. Flashes of lightning in vivid streaks, gleam 
throughout creation. Thunders break in every direc- 
tion, and rattling peals succeed each other, till worlds 
from distant worlds re-echo dreadfully the direful 
clangor of the last agonies of dissolving nature. The 
towering mountains totter on their base ; and earth, 
reeling from her centre, plunges in the fiery void. The 
curling volumes of liquid flame rise from the ruins of 
a burning world, and envelope all the realms of creat- 
ed nature. 

" The roaring winds 
Now blow a hurricane around our world — 
The dashing billows haughtily o'erleap 
Their ancient barriers, deluging the earth ! 
Fires from beneath, and meteors from above 
Portentous, unexpected, unexplained, 
Kindle beacons in the skies, and the old 
And crazy earth cracks even to her centre. 
The pillars of our earth now tottering fall, 
And nature with a dim and sickly eye 
Awaits the close of all." 

And do we stand on the broken fragment of time 
unconcerned ? Are we suspended in the vast immen- 
sity of space — hanging over the depths of an unfath- 
omable ocean, whose rude billows ever roll and never 
find a resting place — trembling on the verge of an 
eternity in which we may be lost, and exposed to the 



133 

peltings of the storms of incensed justice — and yet do 
we sleep — we for whom all earth and heaven are in 
alarm — the sole cause of this surrounding wreck, this 
cruel storm, this elemental war ? 

The creation of a new heaven and a neiv earth. 
And I saw, says the apocalyptic prophet, a new heaven 
and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first 
earth were past away. — And I heard a great voice out 
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is 
with men, and he will dwell with them and they shall 
be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and 
be their God. — And I heard as it were the voice of a 
great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and 
as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia : 
for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 

The everlasting doors give way, and the splendid 
city of the living God appears glittering with gold, and 
shining with precious stones. 

The blood washed company advances with crowns 
of gold upon their heads, and palms of victory in their 
hands, robed in the glorious garments of righteousness, 
attended by harpers harping on their harps, and angels 
hymning with celestial melody. 

The triumphal chariot of the all-conquering Em- 
manuel, attended by the hosts of heaven, and the 
myriads of the redeemed, gains the suburbs of para- 
dise ; — it enters through the gates of the city ; — the 
streets of the New Jerusalem are thronged. — The ce- 
lestial light of eternity falls in lovely splendor on the 
golden streets ; no sun is needed in those blessed 
realms, for the glory of God and of the Lamb, like a 
12 



134 

mantle, shall forever cover the holy hill of Zion. Im- 
mortality throws an enchanting beauty over the count- 
less millions of earth's redeemed ones, and the voice 
of their sorrow breaks out no more. 

The emerald gates close. He which testifieth these 
things saith, surely I come quickly ; Amen. Even so, 
come Lord Jesus. 



A SERMOJV 



DELIVERED SEPT. 24, 1823, AT THE DEDICATION OF THE METHODIST 
CHAPEL, NANTUCKET. 



Psalm xxvi. 8. 



Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where 
thine honor dwelleth. 

The patriarchs, the prophets, and other holy men, 
from the earliest ages of the world, have had the high- 
est veneration for those places where the name of 
Jehovah was recorded, or where he made special ex- 
hibitions of his power and goodness. 

Although their example, in this respect, is worthy of 
our imitation, yet there is great danger arising from 
an undue attachment to particular places, without an 
abiding remembrance that it is not the house we are 
to worship, but that God who hallows the house ; nor 
its beauty that we are to admire, but the " beauty of 
the Lord." How solitary seemed the sepulchre and 



136 

the garden to Mary, when she perceived not her 
Lord ! What is this terrestrial paradise without his 
presence — what would heaven be without his smiles ? 
Answer, ye veterans of the cross — answer ye blood- 
washed company — ye bright angelic spirits ! It is the 
Master we are to seek in the assembly of his saints — 
the God of all the earth. This was the object of the 
Psalmist, whose soul, attuned to holy meditation, and 
in the chastened transports of exalted thought, sings, 
" One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I 
seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 
all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the 
Lord, and to inquire in his temple. — For a day in thy 
courts is better than a thousand ; I had rather be a 
door keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in 
the tents of wickedness." " 1 have loved" he contin- 
ues, " the habitation of thy house, and the place where 
thine honor dwelleth." Deeply impressed with these 
sentiments, and awed into the most profound reverence, 
we bow before a present God, humbly imploring his 
divine aid to assist us in dedicating a temple to his 
service. We shall inquire, 

I. What is implied in loving the habitation of the 
Lord's house ? 

II. Why do holy men love his habitation ? — and 
then proceed to the main object of our present meet- 
ing. 

I. What is implied in loving the habitation of the 
Lord's house ? To love the habitation of the Lord, 
implies a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, as God 



137 

manifest in the flesh — Emmanuel, God with us — the 
Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Ever- 
lasting Father, the Prince of Peace. 

It implies a knowledge of him, as the image of the 
invisible God, the first born of every creature : for by 
him were all things created that are in heaven, and 
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they 
be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : 
all things were created by him, and for him : and he 
is before all things, and by him all things consist. 
And without . him was not any thing made that was 
made. Behold his footsteps in the sea ; hear his 
thunderings borne upon the viewless winds, and read 
the traces of his hand on yonder blue expanse ! 

" The spacious earth and spreading flood 
Proclaim the wise, the powerful God ; 
And his rich glories from afar, 
Sparkle in every rolling star." 

It implies a knowledge of him as our prophet, 
priest and king, who of God is made unto us wisdom, 
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He hath 
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we 
might be made the righteousness of God in him. For 
ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, 
that ye, through his poverty, might be rich. 

" Darkness his curtain, and his bed the dust. 
When stars and sun were dust beneath his throne, 
He seized our dreadful right ; the load sustained, 
And heav'd the mountain from a guilty world ; 
A thousand worlds so bought, were bought too dear," 

12* 



138 

Here we pause, we wonder, we admire. Our souls 
are swallowed up in contemplating the blaze of that 
stupendous love of Christ, which the cruel hatred of 
an ungrateful world could not extinguish ; that aston- 
ishing meekness which no malicious treatment could 
overwhelm ; that wonderful patience which bore the 
bitterest taunts, and the most excruciating tortures 
without a murmur ; and above all — that unprecedented 
spirit of forgiveness which invites poor sinners to take 
shelter in that bosom they had covered with scars, 
and wraps them up in the folds of its love and mercy ! 

" Bound every heart, and every bosom burn ; 
Praise flow forever — if astonishment 
Will give thee leave — my praise forever flow. 
Eternity too short to speak thy praise, 
Or fathom thy profound of love to man." 

Our love of the Lord's house is implied by our 
diligent attendance, while there, on his ordinances. — ■ 
This attendance must be given, not as a matter of mere 
formality in compliance with the prevailing custom. 
We may be punctual in our observance of the external 
duties of the house of God, and yet have neither part 
nor lot in the matter. They are not all Israel, who 
are of Israel. Indeed an experimental knowledge of 
the truth as it is in Jesus, and a devotional frame of 
mind, are inseparably connected with the true worship 
of God. Without this necessary qualification, we shall 
not be capable of perceiving the perfections of his 
character, as they are reflected through the rich vari- 
ety of ways by which he communicates his grace to 
the soul. 



139 

You must not only show yourselves zealous in the 
love of the Lord's house, by being present on all 
proper occasions ; but you must pray fervently to the 
God of all grace, that the word here dispensed may be 
attended by the demonstration of the Spirit, and with 
power ; that here sinners may be awakened, souls 
converted, and christians built up in their most holy 
faith. With all this, you must enter the field your- 
selves, and aid your ministers, not by your prayers 
alone, but by the most arduous and unremitting efforts, 
to press upon your fellow men the importance of those 
truths which are announced and enforced from the 
pulpit. Indeed such is their importance, so tremendous 
their consequences, involving the destinies of all around 
you, that they deserve your most earnest attention. — 
Soon, very soon, it may be lamented that our opportu- 
nities for doing good are lost in the surge of that 
oblivious wave which overwhelms all present things. 
But, 

II. Why do holy men love the habitation of the 
Lord's house ? Because it is " the place where his 
honor dwelleth." There, he is eminently present as 
the father of his family. There, are the emanations of 
his countenance, and the rich droppings of the heavenly 
manna. He, who has promised to supply all the wants 
of his people, is there. He giveth liberally and up- 
braideth not. He is there, who is perfectly acquainted 
with all their trials, sorrows and afflictions. Are they 
wrecked, and plundered of every joy? — are they 



140 

friendless, wretched and forlorn ? Even for them there 
is a season of rest, a reciprocation of feeling in the 
dear Redeemer. For he was a man of sorrows, and 
acquainted with grief. How well qualified, then, is 
such a High Priest, touched as he is with the feeling 
of our infirmities, to pour the oil of consolation into the 
wounded spirit, and to bind up the broken heart ! 

In the christian's temple, there is a holy of holies, a 
sacred retreat, a Bethel where the disencumbered, 
disenthralled soul finds access to the sprinkled throne 
of mercy, and communes with a present God. Here 
the veil of the invisible world is gently lifted up, and 
the devout christian is discovered by angels in audience 
with the Deity : for truly our fellowship is with the 
Father, and with his son Jesus Christ. 

Holy men love the habitations of the Lord, because 
in his courts their ears were first saluted with the glad 
tidings of peace and salvation. There, the day-spring 
from on high visited their benighted souls. There, 
God met them, took their feet from the horrible pit, 
placed them on the rock of ages, and put a new song 
in their mouths, even praise to God. There too, they 
have fed in green pastures, and have drank copiously 
of the pure streams of the river of life, which make 
glad the city of our God. 

Christians love the habitation of the Lord's house, 
because there they ripen for heaven. It is the gate 
through which they pass to the heavenly city. Here 
the weary pilgrim is pointed to the summit of those 
everlasting hills, where the followers of the Lamb are 
forever at rest. Here a reverential awe, with all the 



141 

silent heaven of love, pervades, tranquillizes, and ele- 
vates his soul. Here the sublimated mind, rising from 
earth, soars by faith far beyond the limits of our world, 
enters the third heaven, and basks in the beams of 
uncreated bliss. Here the saints of God shall recover 
from the pollutions of their nature, and expatiate on 
the beauty and the sublimity of divine knowledge. — 
Here their souls shall be imbued with an unction from 
on high, and glow with the pure flame of holy love. 
Here they shall anticipate the joys of the heavenly 
world. And when they shall have left this earthly 
tabernacle, and are translated to the region of light and 
love — that building of God, that house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens, they shall then claim 
kindred with the spirits of just men made perfect, min- 
gle with the redeemed of the Lord, and surround his 
throne with unceasing praise. 

On this interesting occasion, I am led to admire the 
goodness of God, in preserving his true worship through 
every age of the world. Sacrifices were offered by 
the children of men, almost from the creation to the 
deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage. Heav- 
en's court was held on the summit of Sinai. While 
encircled with the insignia of the great God, the Jewish 
legislator received the commandments written on tables 
of stone, as also the law, and a minute description of 
the tabernacle which he was commanded to erect for 
Jehovah to dwell in. 

At the dedication of the temple by Solomon, the 
glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord, so that 
the priests themselves could not enter. Such was the 



142 

overwhelming influence of the King of kings and Lord 
of lords, that the children of Israel bowed themselves 
with their faces to the ground, upon the pavement, and 
worshipped and praised the Lord, saying, for he is 
good ; for his mercy endureth forever. 

Although the second temple was inferior to that 
built by Solomon, in splendor and magnificence ; yet 
it was rendered more glorious by the appearance of 
the desire of all nations within its walls. 

We do not read of any particular houses set apart 
for public worship among the primitive christians. — 
It is probable there were none. The circumstances 
of danger with which they were surrounded, necessa- 
rily obliged them to consult their own safety by re- 
sorting to such places as were best calculated to secure 
them from the evil designs of their enemies. In pro- 
cess of time, however, a new order of things arose. 
The churches of Christ became rich, and increased in 
goods, having need of nothing. This state of outward 
prosperity contributed in no small degree, to debase 
the character and pervert the principles of Christianity. 
Its true spirit evaporated. Its priests sunk into a state 
of apathy, pride, and worldly-mindedness. Idolatry, 
superstition, and bigotry mingled unhallowed rites with 
the purity and simplicity of apostolic worship • and 
arrayed themselves in all the pomp and glitter of ex- 
ternal forms and ceremonies. 

While the christian church was thus enwrapt in the 
mists of visionary fanaticism, and almost wholly ob- 
scured in the darkest gloom, a light from heaven broke 
upon the astonished world. It was the light of truth ! 



143 

It penetrated the cloisters of the venerable reformers 
of the fifteenth century, warmed their hearts, irradiated 
their minds, and led them in safety through the perils 
of a dreadful tempest under the thunders of the Vati- 
can. 

They came forth, clothed in all the majesty of pure 
and undeflled religion, and with holy boldness de- 
nounced the sins, and exposed the corruptions of the 
church. Theirs was no strange fire ; no enthusiasm 
caught from the spirit of the times. It was a flame 
from God's altar ; communicated to their souls while 
surrounded by the presence of him who dwelt in the 
bush. 

Nothing could withstand these valiant defenders of 
the faith once delivered to the saints. Ignorance and 
error fled before them. The proud champions of re- 
ligious intolerance were discomfited ; the battle was 
turned back to the gate, and the banners of oppression 
no longer waved over half the European world. It is 
true, the most desperate efforts were made, and the 
most cruel means resorted to, in order to stop the in- 
fluence of the spirit and example of the reformers. 
But the torture and the faggot, the dungeon and the 
inquisition, all proved ineffectual. The blood of the 
martyrs refreshed the garden of the Lord. Ano- 
ther and another host of heroes rose as from their 
ashes. They joined the armies of the cross ; the 
spirit of the holy prophets fell upon them. They 
burst the fetters of superstition — they shook the tem- 
ples of Dagon — they raised the song of triumph — they 
shouted victory ! 



144 

Our American Israel has caught the hallowed sound, 
and, from her thousand thousand cloud-capt hills, echoed 
back the holy anthem. Nor has the theme died upon 
our lips. We can still sweep the harp of Zion. — The 
magnificent concert still reverberates along our shores. 
It strikes the vault of heaven, and, on the wings of 
every wind, wafts new gospel tidings to the land of our 
fathers. 

" Salvation ! let the echo fly 
The spacious earth around ; 
While all the armies of the sky 
Conspire to raise the sound." 

Two centuries only have transmitted their records 
to the courts of heaven since this land was tenanted by 
cruel hordes of savages. No smiling hamlet then 
cheered the eye. No holy sanctuary invited the wea- 
ry to its sheltering bosom : 

" The sound of the church-going bell, 
Those valleys and hills never heard ; 
Never sighed at the sound of a knell, 
Nor smiled when a sabbath appeared." 

But lo ! another scene opens on our view. This 
vast region, late a howling wilderness, now smiling in 
all the beauty of Eden, is spreading forth on every 
side her fertile fields, and healthful skies, to support 
and cherish the rose of Sharon planted in her bosom. 
This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our 
eyes. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt, thou 
hast cast out the heathen and planted it, thou didst 
cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land ; the 



145 

hills were covered with its shadow, and the boughs 
thereof were like the goodly cedar. 

This is a country favored of the Lord. Here he 
has set up his standard, proclaimed his name, and is 
establishing his everlasting kingdom. In these United 
States, no despotic laws bind the conscience ; no gal- 
ling chains fetter the soul. A broad, generous and 
liberal system of government opens a wide and effec- 
tual door for the preaching of the Gospel. It rears its 
fostering rampart around religions of every name ; and 
affords shelter, and extends its protection equally to 
all, without distinction and without partiality. Truly 
then our lines have fallen in pleasant places. 

Is not this a land of Bibles ? are they not scattered 
over this vast continent ? Though silent and unos- 
tentatious in their progress, they are extending their 
influence in every direction, enlightening the mind of 
man, and preparing him for the reception of an in- 
dwelling God. 

Behold ! the Angel of the Church, having the ever- 
lasting Gospel to preach to all the dwellers upon 
earth, has visited our distant settlements, even now 
he is lighting on the isles of the sea, evangelizing the 
heathen world, arresting the car of Juggernaut in its 
cursed, immolating progress, and pushing the victories 
of the cross to earth's remotest bounds. 

We have Bible and Sunday school institutions ; ma- 
rine, mite, and tract societies ; associations for the re- 
lief of the widow, and the orphan ; with many others, 
all directing their energies to promote one grand ob- 
ject ; like the rays of light emanating from one 
13 



Mm i 



146 

source, and pouring a flood of divine glory on the 
inhabitants of our world. 

Here then, in this goodly land, we have found out a 
place for Jehovah to dwell in. This altar we conse- 
crate — this edifice we hallow. We dedicate this 
house to " the King eternal, immortal and invisible, 
the only wise God." We devote it to that Being 
whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, who yet 
deigns to be present where two or three are assem- 
bled in his name. God is here. He who dwelt be- 
tween the cherubim, the Being of beings, the God of 
love is beholding us. 

Then let us bow with reverence, and may minister- 
ing angels attend, while we raise this stone of our Ebe- 
nezer, and pouring forth the incense of grateful joy, 
call this God's House. 

And now, what wait we for ? Is the Lord's arm 
shortened, that he cannot save ? Is his ear heavy, that 
he cannot hear ? No, verily. He is unchangeably 
the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever : — the 
same being who dried up the waters of the great 
deep, and made a way for the ransomed of the Lord 
to pass over ; the same who thundered from Sinai, 
wept in the garden of agony, hung on the cross, entered 
the prisons of the grave, burst the bars of death, and, 
loaded with the spoils of the cruel monster, rose 
triumphant to the right hand of the Majesty on high. 
Awake, then, awake ; put on strength, O Arm of the 
Lord ! Awake as in the ancient days, in the gene- 
rations of old ! 



147 

What a moment is this, fraught with the most aw- 
fully interesting consequences to all present ! Both 
saint and sinner are deeply involved in the issue of 
the negotiations here commenced on this auspicious 
day. 

My hearers ! we preach in the view of the eter- 
nal world, in the view of devils, in the presence of 
men, of angels, and of the God of angels. Our sub- 
ject is not confined to the fate of nations, or the rise 
and fall of empires. It does not regard merely this 
life's short span. It crosses death's narrow isthmus, ex- 
tends to the last judgment, and terminates only at the 
dissolution of worlds. 

And will you, who are without God and without 
hope in the world, pass these things by as the trifles 
of an hour ? You, who wilh a swift, though insensi- 
ble motion, are gliding down the current of time, into 
the boundless ocean of eternity ? Art thou still a- 
sleep in thy fragile bark, dreaming of perpetual sun- 
shine amidst the veering winds that war around thee ! 
Be warned of your danger, lest the terrors of the sec- 
ond death overtake you, and the Eternal God swear 
in his wrath thou shalt not enter into his rest. 

O sinner ! hast thou turned away from the house of 
God ? hast thou despised the place where his honor 
dwelleth ? or hast thou visited his house in vain ? hast 
thou neglected thine immortal soul ? — Why lingerest 
thou on forbidden ground ? Why tarriest thou in all 
the plain ?' The Angel of the covenant commands 
thee to flee — yea, to flee for thy life — to flee to the 
mountain! He points thee to Calvary ! Away then, 



148 

speedily, to the friend of sinners, while it is called to- 
day 5 ere the night cometh, the night of death, when 
the sun of thy probation shall have set to rise no more 
forever. 

Sinners ! the hour is coming when the fearful mid- 
night cry, ye dead arise, and come to judgment ! — 
shall pierce the tombs of your fathers ; — when a drow- 
sy world shall start from their guilty slumbers ; — when 
the chambers of the sky shall be thrown open; — the 
everlasting doors give way, and the descending Jesus 
appear in the clouds of heaven, with power and 
great glory, to judge the quick and dead. 

" — From his great abode, 



Full on a whirlwind rides the dreadful God : 

The tempest's rattling winds, the fiery car, 

Ten thousand hosts his ministers of war ; 

The flaming Cherubim attend his flight, 

And heaven's foundations groan beneath the weight." 

There is but one door of hope for thy escape ; but 
one ark of safety for thy sinking soul. That door we 
throw open, this day : — into that ark we earnestly 
invite thee. Here then you may touch the golden 
sceptre. This may be your birth place, the vestibule 
through which you may pass to the bosom of rejected 
love and mercy : — listening angels here wait to catch 
the first accents of your repentant prayer, and from 
these portals bear the joyful tidings to the courts 
above. And why not now return ? — Even now 
the word of the Lord may fall like cloven tongues 
upon this assembly ; — even now the soft breezes of 
God's mercy may waft the odour of a Saviour's love to 



149 

your hearts, and breathe life into these slain. Your 
heavenly Joseph waits to make himself known to you. 
God hath sent him to preserve you. He desires to 
call you brethren. May this temple be indeed dedi- 
cated by the return of some poor starving prodigal 
this day to his father's house ! 

My beloved brethren let us continue to love the habi- 
tation of the Lord's house — the place where his 
honor dwelleth. Take heed to your ways lest at 
any time you make shipwreck of faith and of a good 
conscience. Hold fast the form of sound words ; 
let no man deceive you through philosophy and 
vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudi- 
ments of the world, and not after Christ. Let not 
the sophistry of that proud reasoning which is employ- 
ed and controlled by the impenitent, selfish heart, lead 
you astray. Watch, lest you founder on the quick- 
sands of metaphysical divinity, or are clashed against 
the rocks of modern skepticism. Be cautious how 
you hear, how you speak, how you receive. Prove 
all things ; but do this by the word of God, studied 
with prayer for divine teaching. This is the way to 
acquire not prevalent opinions on religious subjects ; 
but a practical knowledge of the truth. Pursue this 
method with a humble heart and an obedient life, and 
you will ever stand on firm and safe ground ; for if 
any man will do his will, he shall know of the doc~ 
trine whether it be of God. Here then fix your de- 
termined stand, and hold fast that which is good, re- 
jecting all else. Cleave to the purity, the simplicity, 
the vitality of the Gospel. Aim at primitive christi-* 
13* 



150 

anity. that which can be known, and felt, and realized ; 
that which was taught by Christ and his apostles ; — 
by Wesley, and Whitefield, and Tennant, and Coke, 
with many other worthies, who have fought a good 
fight, kept the faith, finished their course, and are now 
at rest from all their toils. 

Be not satisfied with a good profession merely. — 
Give to all with whom you associate a lucid and beau- 
tiful exhibition of the christian character, by a well 
ordered life and conversation. Be zealous for the 
honor of the cause which you have espoused. Be not 
ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God, and 
the wisdom of God ; but always bear about with you 
the words of our Lord : whosoever therefore is ashamed 
of me and of my words, of him also shall the Son of 
man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his 
Father with the holy angels. 

Let not party zeal limit the full exercise of all those 
social sympathies so highly recommended by the Gos- 
pel. Cautiously avoid imbibing the narrow feelings of 
pharisaical professors. These check the current of 
that benevolence which is the essence of our holy re- 
ligion, and which throws a halo of divine glory around 
its doctrines and precepts — a religion which is first 
pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, 
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and 
without hypocrisy. 

Remember you are not partizans, but christians. — 
You are not of Paul, nor of Apollos, nor of Cephas — 
but, of Christ. He hath bought you with his own most 
precious blood. You have enlisted under his banner. 



151 

Then let love to God and good will to man be your 
motto. May this be inscribed on all your hearts ; for 
upon these two precepts hang all the law and the 
prophets. 

Finally, my brethren, whenever you approach this 
house, let it be that these holy precepts may be re-im- 
pressed more deeply on your hearts, and exhibited 
more distinctly in your lives. Always consider that 
you are about to appear before the self-existent, the 
omnipresent Jehovah. Suffer no vain desires, no un- 
hallowed thoughts, no unsanctified feelings to intrude 
upon your devotions. Command every avenue to 
your souls, and when you find yourselves within the 
walls of this Zion, loose the sandals from off your feet, 
and know that you tread on holy ground. Here the 
Lord will speak peace to his people, and call poor 
sinners to repentance. Here he will meet you. — 
Here he will clothe his priests with salvation, and here 
his saints shall shout aloud for joy. 

Let us, therefore, be steadfast, immoveable, always 
abounding in the work of the Lord. And when the 
Sun of righteousness shall have dispelled the thick 
mists that encompass this habitation of mortals, and the 
kingdoms of this world shall have become the king- 
doms of our Lord and of his Christ ; — when nature, 
decrepid with age, languishes for her burial, and the 
dark places of our earth tremble ; — when the dreadful 
trump of God shall have announced the end of time, 
and the . consummation of all things, and heaven and 
earth shall pass away with a great noise ; — then you 
shall mount with him through the fiery void, and in the 



152 

full assembly of the saints, attended by an innumera- 
ble company of angels, enter into the spiendid temple 
of the living God, shine as the brightness of the firma- 
ment in the kingdom of your Father, and join the 
myriads of the redeemed in ascribing might, and 
majesty, and dominion, to him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever. Amen. 



A SERMON 

DELIVERED AT DOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE. FAST DAY, APRIL 13, 



Isaiah, v. 4, 5. 

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not 
done in it ? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth 
grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? And now go to ; I will tell you 
what I will do to my vineyard ; I will take away the hedge there- 
of, and it shall be eaten up ; and break down the wall thereof, and 
it shall be trodden down. 

The prophet Isaiah struck the solemn harp of 
prophecy with a master's hand. His mind was of 
such a sublime and tuneful mould, that had he lived 
in Greece, he would have been its Homer ; or, in a 
later age, the Milton of classic England. The Spirit 
of the Highest had indeed baptized him with the 
waters that flow " fast by the throne of God," and 
given him power to lift the misty coverings from fu- 
turity — to hold communion with events and circum- 
stances that were to be developed to mankind in some 
dark periods of the coming eternity; yet native genius 



154 

had set the impress of immortality upon the original 
structure of his mind, and placed in his hands the ele- 
ments of moral power. Language trembled under the 
weight of his glowing thoughts ; the figures of rheto- 
rical art were exhausted ; the scenery of nature, from 
the mountain's top, the throne of the clouds, to the deep 
valley and the deeper world of waters, furnished his 
bold and impetuous imagery. 

In the chapter from which the text is selected, the 
state of the Jewish nation is represented under the 
type of a vineyard : 

Under the figure of a vine is represented the Jewish 
nation itself: 

Under that of soil, the country promised them by 
Jehovah : 

By the natural weakness of the vine, is represented 
their need of a helper : 

By the care taken of it, the unbounded goodness of 
God: 

By the unfruitfulness of this vine, the impious in- 
gratitude of that people : 

And under the type of laying waste the vineyard, 
the signal punishment in store for their aggravated 
transgressions. 

THE VINE. 

It was a goodly vine, planted by the hand of God. 
It was written, thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt ; 
thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it ; thou 
hast caused it to take deep root and it filled the 



155 

land : the hills were covered with its shadow, and the 
boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. 

God chose his servant Abraham, to be the progeni- 
tor of the people represented by this beautiful allegory. 
He had commanded him to leave his native country, 
and to journey to a strange land, and in obedience to 
the voice of God, he set out without wavering, not 
knowing whither he was going. He was tried in the 
tenderest point, by being commanded to sacrifice the 
life of an only son — an only child, and he proved faith- 
ful. God made a covenant with him, and promised, 
that his seed should inherit the ^ land where he was a 
stranger, even the land of Canaan, for an everlasting 
possession : and that through him, all the nations of 
the earth should be blessed. 

THE GOODNESS OF THE SOIL IN WHICH IT WAS 
PLANTED. 

This has a direct and particular reference to the 
land of Canaan, which was one of the most fertile 
countries in the world. It was so beautiful and so 
productive, that it was emphatically styled the vine- 
yard of the Lord, the garden of the world, a good 
land and large, a land flowing with milk and honey. 
It was a country rich in corn, wine, and oil, covered 
with trees, plants, fruits, and flowers in the greatest 
profusion. The whole face of the country was diver- 
sified with a multitude of valleys and hills and moun- 
tains ; adorned with the most beautiful landscapes, 
and teeming with the riches, both of nature and of 
art. 



156 

Its skies were clear and serene. Its hills were 
full of fountains, whence issued myriads of crystal 
rivulets, and streams, meandering through the verdant 
vales and pleasant meadows below : and the glassy 
bosoms of its placid pools reflected the azure canopy 
of the ethereal vault. Universal joy and gladness 
filled the land. Songs and hallelujahs and the thril- 
ling music, like that of Miriam's martial timbrel, swept 
up to heaven's blue arch. 

Envious enemies soon perceived that God was with 
them, and were constrained, like Balaam, to exclaim, 
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy taberna- 
cles, O Israel ! As the valleys, are they spread forth, 
as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign 
aloes, which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar 
trees beside the waters. Thus while they stood aloof 
and beheld the security and grandeur which, like a 
broad belt of living gold, encircled Israel, they won- 
dered, they hated, but dared not molest. 

ITS WEAKNESS. 

The goodness of the vine, and the soil in which it 
was planted, could not protect it against the winds of 
heaven, or the ravages of the invader. The vine is a 
tender plant and easily injured. Its branches are so 
feeble that they need supporting, and require many 
pains and much labor to preserve them in life and 
vigor. 

This was applicable to the Israelites. When they 
came out of Egypt, they had no civil constitution, no 
laws, no government. They had been debased by 



157 

long captivity, and thus rendered incapable of any 
heroic act, unless stimulated by some powerful motive. 
And such was their inconstancy, that at the slightest 
misfortune they looked back with unconquerable de- 
sires to the land where they had groaned so long 
under the lash of despotism. And even after they 
had been trained up for empire, and were put in pos- 
session of the promised Canaan, they were as much 
under the necessity of divine protection as when they 
were wandering in the wilderness. 

Did they attempt any important movement in their 
own strength ? They uniformly failed. Did they 
commence a war ? They were certainly defeated. 
Did they make a boast of their strength, and glory in 
the prowess of their warlike deeds ? A sudden and 
unexpected stroke from an unseen hand withering 
their laurels, was the inevitable consequence of their 
pride and presumption. For, saith the Lord, I will 
not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven 
images. All their self-dependent schemes met the 
fate they deserved, they were broken in pieces. But 
when they went forward in the name and in the 
strength of the God of the armies of Israel, success 
and victory ever attended them. 

THE CAllE TAKEN OF IT. 

In order that this vine might grow and nourish and 

bring forth good fruit, the most careful and unremitted 

attention was paid to it by the servants of God, spoken 

of as the dressers of the vineyard. They dug ahout 

its roots, and pruned its branches, rising up early and 
14 



158 

lying down late. What could have been done more, 
saith the master of the vineyard, for my vineyard that 
I have not done in it. 

The civil constitution of the Jews was of divine 
origin, and their religious institutions well calculated to 
retain in their breasts grateful remembrances of their 
Almighty benefactor. Their deliverance from Egyp- 
tian bondage — from the host of Pharaoh — the waters 
of the Red Sea, and from the dangers of the dreary 
desert, were continually brought to their view. Their 
children were early taught the history of their de- 
liverances. The book of the law, ending with awful 
threatenings and gracious promises, was daily read in 
the hearing of the people. 

Extraordinary means were used to preserve this 
people in the pure exercise of their religion and laws. 
Holy prophets, divinely commissioned, were raised from 
time to time to arrest their attention and ring an alarm 
in their ears. Signal displays of the power and jus- 
tice of the Almighty were made to pass frequently 
before their eyes. — They had line upon line, and pre- 
cept upon precept. He showed his word unto Jacob, 
his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath 
not so dealt with any people. 

ITS UNFRUITFULNESS. 

This vine was a wholesome one. It was planted 
in a fertile soil, and the most unremitting care and 
attention were bestowed upon it ; yet this very vine, 
under all these advantages, proved unfruitful. 

How applicable was this, to the children of Is- 



159 

rael. Although their fathers were the favorites of 
heaven, although they were placed irrthe most eligible 
circumstances for divine culture, possessing advanta- 
ges rarely bestowed upon mortals, they were a proud, 
wicked and perverse generation. — Notwithstanding the 
mighty efforts that had been made to instill into their 
minds the purest principles, and to preserve them a 
distinct people, free from the prejudices, ignorance 
and superstition of the heathen world, they became 
strange plants of a degenerate vine, either producing 
no fruit, or bringing forth sour grapes, which, when 
pressed, made drunk the nations around them. 

In process of time, they descended from the lofty 
eminence they had held for ages, and after exhibiting, 
at various times, the most detestable features of moral 
depravity, they, at length, gave themselves up, wholly 
to their lusts, and losing all sense of shame, sunk into 
the grossest idolatry and rebellion, rendering them- 
selves worthy of the most condign punishment. In 
addition to all this, they filled to the brim the measure 
of their iniquities, by despising and rejecting their 
Messiah, and scourging and crucifying the Son of 
God. 

ITS DESTRUCTION. 

I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be 
eaten up : I will break down the wall thereof, and it 
shall be trodden down, saith the Lord. 

It is easy to conceive, how the wild beasts of the 
forest will desolate a vineyard, when its fences are 
thrown down and removed. Here, under the figure 
of laying waste a vineyard, God condescends to lay 



160 

before his people, the inevitable consequences of per- 
sisting in their sin, and to warn them against it. 

This solemn threatening was awfully realized by 
the Jews. The spirit of the Lord having been so long 
grieved and insulted, now takes his everlasting flight 
from them. They are left naked and exposed to the 

" Tremendous threatening ! black as night it stands 
Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, 
And shakes a fearful dart," 

even the dart of divine indignation over a guilty land. 
The blood of the holy prophets is found in their gar- 
ments. They had imprecated the blood of the Lord 
of life and glory upon their devoted heads. The day 
of their visitation having expired, the destroying Angel 
was now commissioned to go forth and slay them in 
all their cities. A dreadful, a blind infatuation seized 
them. God made their attachment to their formal, 
heartless ceremonies, a mean of their final overthrow. 
While they were engaged in the celebration of the 
passover, they would do nothing in defence of their 
city. Titus took this occasion to enter Jerusalem with 
his legions, fired the temple, destroyed the city and 
spread desolation and dismay throughout Judea. — The 
few wretched Jews, who escaped the edge of the 
sword, were either taken captive by their enemies or 
scattered over the earth, to wander like the blasted 
Cain, abhorred and hated by every people. 

Their glory hath vanished like the mist from the 
mountain. The besom of destruction hath swept away 
their honors. The oblivious pall hath long since cov- 



161 

ered them. Obscurity hath spread her dark mantle 
upon the land of Palestine, and the cursed crescent of 
the Moslem waves over the crumbling fragments of 
Jewish granduer. 

K Weep for the harp of Judah's broken shell ; 
Mourn — where their God hath dwelt, the godless dwell. 
Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast, 
How shall ye flee away and be at rest ! 
The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave, 
Mankind their country — Israel but the grave !" 

And why is this ? Because, notwithstanding all 
that had been done for this peculiar people, they 
would neither love, nor obey, nor worship God accord- 
ing to his requirements. Thus Jerusalem, fallen from 
her once exalted station, and weltering in the blood of 
her children, raises her warning voice to all succeeding 
nations. She speaks from the records of her fathers ; 
from the broken tribes of her wandering sons. 

And not her voice alone proclaims the emptiness 
of human glory, the catastrophe of human wicked- 
ness. Other kingdoms have been broken ; other 
cities have been buried ; other nations have been 
extirpated. Where are Troy, Babylon, Athens, The- 
bes, Persepolis, and Palmyra ? Their ruins are sep- 
ulchred with the ashes of their founders. 

" Ah ! then in desolation cold 
The desert serpent dwells alone, 
Where grass o'ergvows each mouldering stone, 
And stones themselves to ruin grown, 
Are grey and deathlike old." 

Palmyra, the seat of proud kings, the emporium 
of science, the envy of her neighbors, the wonder 
14* 



162 

of the world, is no more. Her stately ruins may 
form a picture, her fame may paint a moral, but her 
power and her glory have long passed away. — Faded 
is her beauty, withered her strength, and humbled her 
pride. Her inscriptions are grown unintelligible, her 
heroes are forgotten. 

With these reflections, let us take a short view of 
our own standing as a nation. O, that we may be 
admonished to pursue that righteousness which exalt- 
eth a nation, and to avoid that sin which is a reproach 
to any people ! 

OUR FOREFATHERS LIKE THOSE OF THE JEWS WERE PIOUS. 

Those intrepid men who first planted the rose of 
Sharon in this land of strangers, and unfurled the 
banner of the cross in these western wilds, were dis- 
ciples of Jesus, — a band of holy pilgrims in quest of 
freedom, and the rights of conscience. — They were 
exiles from their native homes ; and many of them 
poor and penniless, but they were rich in faith and 
heirs of the promises. Few high sounding titles dis- 
tinguished them from their fellows ; but theirs was a 
higher distinction than princes can confer — their names 
were enrolled in heaven. 

Guided by the good providence of God, they came 
forth from among their persecutors, traversed the 
wide waste of waters, touched upon these happy 
shores, and here planted the goodliest vineyard under 
heaven. 

" 'Twas then, by faith impelled, by freedom fired, 
By hope supported, and by God inspired, — 



163 

'Twas then, the pilgrims left their fathers' graves, 

To seek a Home beyond the waste of waves ; 

And where it rose, all rough and wintry, Here, 

They swelled devotion's song, and dropped devotion's tear." 

IS NOT OUR VINEYARD FRUITFUL ? 

What country on earth can boast of such richness 
and variety of soil ! Here we may range as through 
an extensive garden, and expatiate midst flowers and 
fruits, the products of every clime. Here too, mines 
are daily pouring forth the purest of metals, and quar- 
ries the richest of marble. Here are forests of vast 
extent, whose waving tops brush the loitering clouds. 
Is not this a goodly heritage, which our pious fathers 
have procured for us by their courage, their industry, 
and their perseverance ? A little more than two cen- 
turies ago, and the foot of civilized man had not pres- 
sed these shores : nor the genius of religion as yet 
erected her temples. Our rivers and our extensive 
lakes were unfrequented and silent, save when the 
noise of the Indian's paddle, broke the stillness of the 
scene ; or when the savage war-whoop echoed from 
the surrounding hills, and reverberated along their 
solitary shores. But now these waters supply the 
innumerable wheels of the busy manufacturer, or bear 
on their bosoms, the luxuries of every clime. Now 
we behold the cattle on Columbia's thousand hills, or 
scattered over her wide extended plains, while plenty 
opens her boundless stores, and with a lavish hand 
distributes her richest blessings to her favored sons. 

" O stranger ! stay thee, and the scene around 
Contemplate well, and if perchance thy home 



164 

Salute thee with a father's honored name, 
Go call thy sons-— instruct them what a debt 
They owe their ancestors." 

ARE WE NOT PECULIARLY FAVORED OF THE LORD ? 

Yes, my brethren, our blessings are innumerable. 
The valor of our fathers has long since broken the 
iron yoke of European bondage. Every nation of the 
earth regards us with interest, and every despot feels 
the insecurity of his throne, as he contemplates our 
growing strength, and observes the progressive march 
of our republican principles in the old world. Once 
they dared to abuse our Executive, our Congress and 
our State Legislatures. Once they dared to insult our 
public ministers, and force into their service our gene- 
rous mariners. — But now, how changed the scene ! 
They consult our wishes ; they respect our rights ; 
they honor our name. 

Neither is there, now, any obstruction to the pro- 
gress of our holy religion, among us. The most 
powerful and encouraging motives to a genuine conver- 
sion to God, and a holy life of obedience, are contin- 
ually spread before us. 

We enjoy the exalted privileges of the Gospel, in 
an eminent degree. At this moment it is exerting a 
wonderful influence over the different relations and 
modifications of life. Its inestimable blessings are 
realized in almost every section of our blessed country. 
A spirit of evangelical enterprise has gone out into 
society, prompting christians to the performance of the 
most noble deeds, and preparing the way for the moral 
revolution of an enslaved world. 



165 

Could superstition once obscure the light of divine 
truth ? Its clouds have been long since dispelled, by 
the revival of literary and religious knowledge. Could 
prejudice once pervert our judgment ? A liberality 
prevails at the present day, unknown in former times. 
The barriers, which had long prevented a union, among 
the various sects of religion, are gradually giving way 
before the majesty of mind, that has broken from its 
leading strings, and, towering to its native skies, is now 
consecrated to the cause of \ Christ and the church.' 
Could persecution once alarm our fears ? We now 
hear no hierarchial prohibitions thundering from the 
papal throne. The faggots of bigotry have never 
gleamed upon our shores ; — its martyrs never bled 
upon our sod. No inquisitorial familiars infest our 
cities, watch our private retreats and pounce upon our 
domestic retirements, like the blood thirsty, midnight 
assassin. Nor do myriads of hellish harpies, clad in 
the robes of sanctity, gnaw, like the never-dying worm, 
upon our vitals. Protected by good and wholesome 
laws, we may follow the dictates of our consciences, 
and worship him alone, who is our Father, our Deliv- 
erer, our God ! 

Truth is our shield, its beacon our guide, its bosom 
our home, and its plaudit our reward. 

YET IN OURSELVES WE ARE WEAK. 

Our nation, with her unbounded territories, amazing 
advantages, and vast resources, must eventually fall from 
her high estate, should she become forgetful of him in 
whom alone is everlasting strength. Our proud bul- 



166 

warks, strong towers, and numerous fortresses cannot 
guarantee our safety, secure to us our national bles- 
sings, or perpetuate our sacred liberties, if the God of 
battles, the captain of the host of heaven, turns his 
arms against us — if he withdraws his chariots and 
horsemen, and plucks up the walls of brass which he 
hath raised about us, — if he inscribes upon our temples 
— the glory is departed,. — and thunders from his su- 
perb palace the dreadful sentence — let us go hence, 
— they are joined to their idols, — then the bold mo- 
narch of the feathered world would soon falter in his 
towering flight, and descend with trembling pinions ; 
his enemy would snatch the arrows from his talons, and 
dash to atoms the diadem of his glory. 

Let us now inquire, are we, as a people, grateful to 
him who led us triumphantly through all our oppres- 
sions, preserved our fathers from the tomahawk of the 
savage, made us victorious in battle, and secured a 
glorious independence for our country ? 

Do we generally emulate the example of our pious 
fathers ? Do we regard as we ought the precepts of 
our revered Washington ? Let the conscience of every 
man answer. Why is intemperance permitted to stalk 
abroad in the open face of day ? Why, in many pla- 
ces, are the Sabbaths of the Lord profaned, his sanc- 
tuary deserted, the special operation of his Holy Spirit 
sneered at, and his Gospel denied, explained away, 
and despised ? Why so much apathy, so little of the 
soul and spirit of piety in the duties and enjoyments of 
this day ? Why have we yet so many citizens as much 
distinguished for gaming and debauchery, as for talents 



167 

and influence in society ? Why is our native soil con* 
tinually satiated with the blood of her sons, shed by the 
hand of fashionable murderers, in violation of all 
moral obligation ? And why are these enormities so 
generally regarded either with indifference, or with ap- 
probation and applause ? 

In view of these things, let us consider, that it is as 
true of nations as individuals, that sin, in its very na- 
ture, tends to temporal and eternal ruin ; and that the 
more nations are exalted in point of privilege, the more 
aggravated their sin, and the more signal will be their 
punishment. How striking the parallel between the 
Jewish nation and our own, in respect to origin, pro- 
gress and distinguished privileges and blessings. God 
grant that the parallel may extend no further ! 

It is perfectly obvious, from reason, scripture and 
observation, that one thing, and that one only, can ef- 
fectually stop the torrent of our national sin, which is 
wafting us, as it has done other nations, down into the 
vortex of destruction, — and that is the prevalence of 
the pure and undefiled religion of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. This will render us invincible, when other 
resources are of no avail. The spirit of pure benevo- 
lence and christian zeal, glowing upon our altars, and 
breathing through our land, will chase the demon of 
destruction from our shores, and give health, activity 
and vigor to our constitution and laws. And, while 
the destroying angel marches in terror beyond the 
waters of the Atlantic, bowing the necks of proud 
monarchs, driving the ploughshare of ruin through 
their enslaved dominions, and shaking the foundations 



168 

of the eastern hemisphere, — America will be seen 
coming up out of the wilderness, terrible as an army 
with banners, travelling in the greatness of the strength 
of the Lord of Hosts, going forward in her honorable 
career, from conquering to conquer. 

It becomes us, then, as cordial christians, as true 
lovers of our country, this day, to arouse from our 
sjoth, in the best of all causes, — the cause of Zion. 
We have not a moment to lose. Our country is in 
danger ; — our all is at stake ! Come, my people, saith 
the Lord, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy 
doors about thee : Hide thyself, as it were, for a little 
moment, until the indignation be overpast. For be- 
hold ! the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the 
inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. 

Let us, this day, unite our fervent prayers at the 
throne of grace, for a special out-pouring of the Holy 
Spirit, throughout our land, as the only effectual agent 
in the work of national repentance and reformation — 
in the preservation of our civil and religious liberties — 
in the consecration of this western world as a vast thea- 
tre of millennial piety and happiness, — and in raising up 
millions and millions of our fallen race, from the depths 
of sin and misery, to the realms of eternal peace, and 
purity, and glory. 



ADDRESS 

delivered before the new england conference missionary societt. 
june 9, 1825. 



Mr. President, 

I cannot sufficiently express the glow of feeling 
that pervades my breast, as I rise on an occasion so 
interesting, as that which has convened us in this tem- 
ple of christians. I rise, sir, to second the resolution 
offered by my reverend brother from New York, — 
" That we heartily approve of the exertions that are 
making by the various denominations of christians in 
Europe and America to send the Gospel into all the 
world ; and that the success with which these exertions 
are attended demands our warmest gratitude to God, 
and should stimulate all the friends of missions to re- 
doubled ardor in this glorious cause." In seconding 
this resolution, I feel myself on truly christian ground — 
ground consecrated by the primitive christians, on 
which they raised a noble temple to peace, concord and 
15 



170 

unity ; and although it has been shattered by the con- 
vulsions of contending parties, led on by a blind zeal, and 
many of its beautiful pillars broken and defaced, thanks 
be to God, the dawn of the latter day glory, beholds it 
rising from its ruins, beautiful and exact in its propor- 
tions, — a goodly edifice. How great is its extent al- 
ready ! In the midst of Christendom is its centre, — 
but where are its wings ? See them rapidly extending 
over heathen lands ! This day we throng these courts 
with joy, and hasten to plight our vows, and join hands 
at this hallowed altar. What God and our holy reli- 
gion have joined together, let no man, with sacrilegious 
impiety, put asunder. 

There never was a moment more auspicious, or a 
crisis more favorable to the cause of Christ. The 
signs of the times are peculiar and wonderful. The 
astonishing events of the past century — the fulfilment 
of prophecy — the glorious appearances in the christian 
church, — all conspire to raise our hopes and encourage 
our hearts. The set time to favor Zion has arrived ; — 
there is an increasing desire among christians for the 
spread of true religion, a growing regard for the sacred 
volume, and an intense interest felt for immortal souls 
by the servants of the sanctuary. The word of God, 
through the medium of the Bible Society, the honored 
daughter of the Missionary Society, is translating into 
all languages, and spreading among all people ; and 
foreigners, of the first distinction, are uniting with us 
in promoting this great object. We see evident signs 
of the speedy dissolution of all religions not founded in 
a revelation from God — of the return of the scattered 



171 

tribes of Israel, and of the descent of the redeeming 
angel upon Jerusalem — the temple and city of the 
living God. We see, too, what is most encouraging — 
early prejudices passing away, party names and dis- 
tinctions fading from the christian's banner, and a 
union of hearts, hands and purses, unparalleled in the 
history of the church. 

Never, during any former period, were such pow- 
erful and successful exertions made to extend the Re- 
deemer's kingdom. The circle of christian benevo- 
lence has been astonishingly enlarged, and we do 
firmly believe it will continue to increase, until, like a 
golden zone, it shall surround the habitable globe. 

Are not these signs and wonders that brighten upon 
the face of our moral heavens, the sure precursors of 
the final triumphs of the cross and the downfall of anti- 
christian oppression and error of every kind ? 

In this view, there is a splendid object of hope set 
before us ; and although there are obstacles still in the 
way, many of which appear almost insurmountable, 
they will avail but little before the march of the ever- 
lasting Gospel. In due time, every valley shall be ex- 
alted, every hill brought low ; the crooked made 
straight, and the rough places plain. Yes, sir, the 
little leaven is gradually, but surely and silently work- 
ing its way through the whole lump. And it shall soon 
come to pass that ten men shall take hold, out of all 
languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the 
skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we wilFgo with you ; 
for we have heard that God is with you. That the 
day is not far distant when these hopes shall be abun- 



172 

dantly realized, is evident, no less from Scripture, than 
from what has been already accomplished on the great 
theatre of Missionary labors. We rejoice, Sir, that 
these things are not imaginary. They are not the idle 
dreams of superstitious devotees — not the romantic 
expectations of bloody crusaders — not the visionary 
flights of wild enthusiasts — No ! these events are reali- 
ties and have their being even in our midst; — they are 
before us, and the rude son of the forest stands forth 
with the eloquence of nature to confirm their veracity. 
I have no hesitation in saying, that the cause of mis- 
sions is the cause of God. That it shall never fall to 
the ground, is, therefore, our rejoicing ; it is based in 
principles that know no decay — over which human 
agency can have no control ; it rests on the rock of 
ages for support. It has already withstood the shock 
of all the united elements of a vain, unsanctified phi- 
losophy, and it will stand firm and stately amidst the 
ruins of time, till the whole redeemed earth shall have 
become a habitation of holiness — a temple consecrated 
to the purest worship, and filled with heaven's own 
harmony. 

When we consider the success that has crowned the 
faithful of all denominations of christians in sending 
missionaries to the heathen, our hearts overflow with 
gratitude to that Being whose promises support us — 
whose presence is certain victory. They have done 
nobly ! Throwing themselves, even while yet a feeble 
band, into the Thermopylae of the moral world, they 
have engaged the combined powers of a more cruel 
and oppressive foe than Xerxes of Persia ;' and al- 



173 

though the honor of being the first to cross the Rubi- 
con, is awarded to the Wesleys and Whitefield and 
Coke, we will not withhold from others their meed of 
praise, nor be niggardly in rendering unto Caesar the 
things that are Caesar's — tribute to whom tribute is 
due. If through any of them the sun of righteous- 
ness has darted one benignant ray upon the poor hea- 
then, sitting in the region and shadow of death — if they 
have conducted one pure rill from Judah's fountain, to 
water and refresh one barren and thirsty spot in the 
vineyard of the Lord, — heaven bless them. Ephraim 
will not envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim. 

But, Sir, notwithstanding the great exertions that have 
been already made, and the influence that is now in 
successful operation to evangelize the world, — but little, 
comparatively, as yet has been accomplished. Hundreds 
of millions of immortal spirits are still in the hands of 
the enemy — ignorant, depraved and dark. These oc- 
cupy the greatest proportion of the globe, and to these 
the Gospel must be sent. Here and there, it is true, 
are cultivated spots — gardens planted by the mission- 
ary, and watered by the river of life. But they are 
only thinly strewed over this bleak wilderness, while 
all the remainder is destitute of moral culture and 
sterile as Arabia's sands. While we speak, the siroc 
of a wide spread destruction is sweeping along this 
immense field — the altars of demons smoke with the 
blood of human victims — the car of Juggernaut rolls 
onward in bloody triumph — the Indian widow ascends 
the funeral pyre, a sacrifice to the manes of her de- 
ceased husband — the magnificent Ganges swells with 
15* 



174 

the life blood of its superstitious votaries — the scalping 
knife of the red man is brandished — the shrieks of hu- 
man beings slaughtered in cold blood — the shouts of 
assembled multitudes maddened with demoniac fury, 
assail the christian's ear. Is it possible, then, that we 
can look at these things, and remain cold and insensi- 
ble ? Shall our hearts remain frozen while mortals are 
perishing around us daily ? — Shall we feel no anxie- 
ties, when Ethiopia stretches out her hands, manacled 
and bleeding ? Shall we quietly sleep when the pesti- 
lence that walketh at noonday is desolating our world ? 
Is it possible that we should faint when the rod of our 
glorious deliverer waves over the troubled ocean of 
difficulty before us, and we hear his voice, from the 
pillar of fire and of cloud which conducts the chosen 
band of Israel, bidding us, — go forward ? Can it be 
that local prejudices, or sectarian feelings, shall affect 
us ? Shall we offer apologies for our backwardness in 
this great work f Let us rather double our diligence, 
and, forgetting the things that are behind, bring all 
our tithes into the storehouse, and prove the Lord 
herewith, and see if he will not arise, terribly to 
shake the earth. Be assured that victory awaits us ; 
and in the event of a coalition of all denominations 
upon the broad principles of christian philanthropy, 
we should soon behold a prostrate world yielding hom- 
age to the one true God. And why not unite ? Are 
we not children of the same family, branches of the 
same root, streams from the same fountain, rays from 
the same sun — all tending the same way, though widely 
apart, though distinct in appearance — all having the 



175 

same origin — the same end ? The field we occupy is 
extensive — our parish, sir, is not geographically de- 
fined, — it embraces the whole earth. There is room 
enough and work enough for us all. Let us then 
awake — arise — and, putting on the Lord's armour, 
march forward without rivalry, and without jealousy. 

It is my decided opinion, sir, and T ground it upon 
the word of God, that a mere expression of our cor- 
dial approbation of the exertions which are making by 
the various denominations of christians is not sufficient. 
— We are to love, not in word, or in thought only, but 
in deed, and in truth. We should study to cherish 
the heaven-born principle of love and union, without 
dissimulation and without wavering. This would strike 
a blow in the world, that would be felt throughout 
Christendom. The kingdom of darkness would be 
dismayed, its strongest bulwarks shaken, and the ene- 
mies of missions compelled to exclaim with Balaam, — ■ 
Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither 
is there any divination against Israel. Let us then en- 
deavor from this hour to convince the world that we 
are actuated by the highest motives. Let a reciproca- 
tion of feeling, an interchange of kind offices, an 
identity of interest, prevail over every thing else. This 
will contribute greatly to the blessed cause in which 
we are engaged. Let us embrace as christians, bid- 
ding one another — God speed. And if we cannot rank 
first in the lovely train of institutions that gem the 
christian hemisphere, we will determine not to be the 
last in lending our aid to our fellow laborers in the 
noble cause of missions, in cultivating the most liberal 



176 

sentiments, cherishing the most generous feelings, and 
multiplying acts of kindness. Thus, hand in hand, 
shall we all press forward in our honorable career, 
blessing and being blessed. We shall gather new 
strength as we advance ; our resources will increase ; 
and at every stage of our progress, we shall behold 
the accumulation of evidence, demonstrative of the 
mighty effects of christian union. 

Who, then, are on the Lord's side ? Who among 
us lifteth up his banner ? What christian soldier feels 
his soul in arms and eager for the conflict ? The 
great trumpet in Zion summoneth us to the battle. 
The standard of Shiloh is raised. He, who rides on 
the whirlwind and directs the storm, is gone up before 
us. The Macedonian cry, echoed by a thousand 
nations, has already raised a slumbering world. From 
beyond the waters of the Atlantic, from Albion's cliffs, 
we are cheered. A new and holy impulse is given to 
christians in both hemispheres. Its vibrations are felt 
before the throne of God. The angel commissioned 
with the everlasting Gospel, is on the wing. The glad 
tidings echo through all the celestial orbs. The moun- 
tains tremble, they melt away. The valleys rise and 
are exalted above the hills. Fruitful grounds look 
beautiful, and barren deserts open in bloom. Seas 
are dried up, and the ransomed of the Lord pass over 
on dry land with songs and shoutings. And now is 
heard, even upon earth, the voice of a great multitude, 
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of 
mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God 
©mnipotent reignetb. 



ADDRESS 



delivered before the new england conference missionary society. 
june, 1826. 



Mr. President, 

In the whole range of human thought and human 
enterprise, we cannot select a more august, or a more 
illustrious subject, than the one which this evening 
brings before us. Such is its weight and importance, 
and so intimately connected with it, are the dearest 
interests of mankind in this world and in the next, it is 
with the most heart thrilling sensations I rise to second 
the resolution offered by my reverend brother ; — 

" That the success which has attended the efforts of 
the various Missionary Societies of this and other coun- 
tries, has been such as to encourage us to persevere in 
our exertions to evangelize the heathen, and to expect 
that the knowledge of the Lord will soon cover the 
earth as the waters cover the sea." 



17S 

In giving my heartyconcurrence to what is express- 
ed in this resolution, it will be natural to run over the 
ground of missionary operations, from their commence- 
ment, under the auspices of the great founder of our 
holy religion^ down to the present day. 

I do not come forward, Sir, to advocate the cause 
of missions. It needs no effort of mine to secure it a 
place, and an honorable one too, among the noblest 
institutions that adorn the christian name. The ele- 
ments of which it is composed are imperishable ; ene- 
mies can now have but little hopes of arresting its pro- 
gress. It has ascended above the storm and tempest. 
It has been gradually, though imperceptibly, gaining a 
wide spreading influence, wonderful and unprecedent- 
ed, until its attitude has, at length, become one of the 
most glorious and commanding ever contemplated by 
an immortal mind. 

But, Sir, we are too apt to confine our views of the 
great missionary cause to that auspicious hour when it 
was first recognised by different religious denomina- 
tions, as an ostensible auxiliary in the work of refor- 
mation, without considering that Christ and his apos- 
tles were missionaries, and that their example had 
never been entirely neglected even in the darkest ages. 
It is well known, Sir, that the society which we have 
the honor of representing this evening, has been al- 
ways marked by the strongest features of primitive 
Christianity, not merely as it respects the purity of its 
doctrines, the simplicity, order, and beauty of its 
church government, but also in the mighty energies it 
has for nearly a century put forth in carrying the ban- 



179 

ners of the cross victorious round the globe. Per- 
haps, then, it would not be wholly irrelevant to take a 
more catholic and extensive view of missionary effort^ 
within the period of its efficient labors among the na- 
tions of the earth. 

At the time of Christ's first gracious appearance in 
Jerusalem, the whole circle of the prophetic vision 
brightened. The partition walls, so long standing be- 
tween Jew and Gentile, were now broken down by 
God manifest in the flesh, and a vast and almost illimi- 
table field opened for the general diffusion of the light 
and glory of the christian religion. The first ages of 
Christianity were distinguished by a noble display of 
piety, zeal, and fortitude under suffering, that has no 
parallel in the annals of time. And not until Chris- 
tianity ascended the throne of the Caesars, do we per- 
ceive any very marked departure from its pure prin- 
ciples and practice. In a very short time, however, 
her glory departed, and a long night of moral dark- 
ness ensued, during which ignorance, superstition^ and 
priest-craft, held their infernal orgies and swayed 
their bloody sceptres over the consciences of men. 
Notwithstanding the darkness of this night of gloom, 
there was now and then a solitary star seen twinkling 
on the distant horizon. At length the memorable re- 
formation broke out, under the combined efforts of a 
few hardy spirits, who, emerging from the thick clouds 
with which they were covered, burst like fiery comets 
upon the astonished world, and drove back the appal- 
ling darkness upon itself. Again, w r e notice in the 
history of the church a fearful lapse, not so much into 



180 

gross errors probably, as into a state of formality with- 
out vital power ; the letter took precedence of the 
spirit, till unmeaning rites and ceremonies again con- 
stituted the summum bonum of religion. But even in 
this interval there was some salt in the church that 
preserved it from total destruction. Such were Bax- 
ter, the Henrys, and Law, and Flavel, men eminent 
for their zeal and devotedness to the cause of the Re- 
deemer. But the glory of the church was in the 
wane until the last century, when the Wesleys, White- 
field, and Fletcher, and many other men of God were 
raised up and qualified by the Holy Ghost, to revive 
primitive Christianity in the world, and bring it forth 
from the rubbish that had been accumulating for ages. 
They pursued a novel path, it is true, but one, if we 
may reason from the wonderful effects of their minis- 
try, exactly suited to the spirit of the times, and the 
degraded state into which pure and undefiled religion 
had fallen. Theirs was purely an apostolic spirit. It 
seemed as if the ashes of the first martyrs had been 
reanimated. Their course was rapid beyond example, 
and they were, by their labors, instrumental in pro- 
moting powerful religious excitements, the most ex- 
traordinary that had occurred since the days of the 
apostles. The mighty power of God, like an over- 
whelming torrent, bore down all opposition before 
them — attesting to the truth of their preaching, so that 
gainsayers were silenced, and a general alarm given to 
the enemies of the cross throughout Europe. They 
advanced upon the foes of God and man, with the in- 
trepidity and confidence of the shepherd lad, trusting 



181 

alone in the arm of omnipotence for success. Not 
satisfied with skirmishing on the outskirts of the ene- 
my's dominions, they pushed the victories of Immanuel 
beyond the islands of Great Britain. Borne upon the 
wings of the angel in the apocalypse, which represents 
the almighty power of God, supporting his ministers 
in their arduous undertakings, they traversed sea and 
land, visiting the barbarous haunts of wild and savage 
Indians. The frigid regions of the north were pene- 
trated — the parched, arid deserts of the south — around 
the poles and between the tropics. No place was im- 
pervious to this spiritual warfare. 

The religious public received a new impulse at that 
interesting era — an impulse we feel at this moment, 
and which has already roused the energies and en- 
gaged the attention of saved multitudes. Many great 
and effectual doors are now open to a preached Gos- 
pel, and there are new ones daily opening. Obstacles 
once thought insurmountable are now removing out of 
the way. The blessed truths of God are on their 
march — they tread fearlessly on the heels of infidelity. 
They brave the votaries of Mahomet even in the midst 
of Mecca, and shake the Sultan on his throne. They 
are at this moment spreading themselves over the 
plains of Hindostan, arresting the Indian Moloch in his 
impious career ; and have even appeared in classic 
Greece, and among the aboriginal nations of our own 
vast continent. They have proclaimed war against the 
man of sin, and from the centre to the circumference 
of his proud domains are vexing him with their incur- 
sions. 

16 



182 

And are we not a part of the great, moral machine, 
now in operation to evangelize a world of sinners ? — 
Does not this sacred hour announce the joyful tidings, 
that victory is still on Zion's side? Yes, for the angel 
of the everlasting covenant hath visited our happy land. 
The glad news of salvation by Jesus Christ, has 
reached our ears, and rejoiced our hearts ; and as one 
of the thousands of Israel, we have come hither this 
day to add another and another trophy to the ensigns 
of power, and majesty, and conquest, that brighten 
along the ranks of the church militant upon earth. 

Here then, is an occasion, hallowed by the holiest 
associations, disclosing a wide field for the achievement 
of nobler deeds than ever blazoned upon the page of 
a .nation's history. The instruments of action are 
within our reach, and the power to go forward in our 
labors of love, although entirely of grace, is amply 
afforded to every true soldier of Jesus Christ. Bright 
prospects open upon us from every point of heaven, 
and from almost every section of the globe we hear 
the imploring voice of those who are ready to perish, 
mingled with the shouts of redeemed millions. We 
have every thing, then, to encourage us to proceed 
onward without wavering, until the Sun of righteousness 
shall have dispensed the bright effulgence of his holy 
beams far and wide over the dark places of the earth. 
And although since our last anniversary, the knell of 
the departed ones has fallen heavily upon our hearts, 
it has not damped the spirit by which we are ac- 
tuated to hazard all for the souls of men. The pure 
flame of christian philanthropy still glows upon our 



183 

altars. Thanks be to God, there remain among us 
here and on the other side of the Atlantic, many de- 
voted servants of Christ, fired with holy ambition, and 
panting for an opportunity to fill up the ranks of the 
missionary army. And shall we shut our ears upon the 
cries of those for whom Jesus Christ hath shed his 
most precious blood ? Shall we be backward now, at 
such an interesting period of the conflict, while the 
enemy, fearfully discomfited, feels the insecurity of 
his hold on men's minds ? Shall we refuse to send the 
torch of inspiration to the heathen nations who look up 
to us for direction, for counsel, for light ? Shall they 
be blasted with the tidings of our timidity and deser- 
tion, and turn away again to their idols in hopeless des- 
pondency ? 

We stand here this day in view of all that is digni- 
fied in morals, and sublime in conception ! Are we 
not summoned hither by the mandate of Jehovah, to 
carry into effect his gracious designs towards fallen 
man — to supply poor perishing souls with immortal food 
— to refresh the thirsty inhabitants of the desert with 
water out of the rock — to widen and extend the boun- 
daries of the Redeemer's kingdom, till the "whole earth 
is covered with the knowledge of God as the waters 
cover the sea ? 

What can exceed these glorious purposes ? What 
angel mind could imagine any thing commensurate 
with the benevolence of this design ? Is not the image 
of God reflected upon its every feature ? Does it not 
come to us sanctioned with the authority and sealed 
with the signet of the Lord of Hosts ? Are we not, 



184 

while aiding the steps of the missionary, doing the 
work of evangelists ourselves ? Do we not become 
the favored instruments of raising immortal minds from 
the depths of sin and depravity to a seat among kings 
and princes around the throne of God ? Shall we grow 
faint or wax cold in this work of mercy, while hun- 
dreds of millions of immortals are now feeling the in- 
tensity of expectation, while the sacred symbols of 
Jehovah's presence are elevated upon the tops of the 
mountains ? God forbid ! Let us arise and clothe our- 
selves in the armor of the sanctuary. The precursors 
have gone up before us. The sun of divine love is as- 
cending the heavens, and blazing forth in all the gran- 
deur of meridian glory. The benighted ones, emerg- 
ing from the valley of the shadow of death, hail with 
joy its reflected splendors. 

Hosts of redeemed men are advancing on all hands. 
The Lord God of battles is at their head. All the 
harps of Zion are swept. The iron bolts of despo- 
tism are drawn back, and the dungeons of ignorance 
are giving up their incarcerated millions ; they are 
coming forth to light, to joy, to liberty. We hear a 
voice on the tops of the mulberry trees ! The voice 
of him who sitteth between the cherubim commands 
us to go on, undismayed — unbroken. 

The walls of superstition already totter on their base, 
and every idol falls to the ground. The cursed traffic 
in human flesh is ceasing ; and the slave ship no longer 
darkens the blue wave of the Alantic ; — war and dis- 
cord are retreating back to hell. The almighty, all 
conquering Jesus is riding forth, subduing our rebel 



185 

race to the obedience of his peaceful laws. From the 
burning wheels of his triumphal chariot his winged an- 
gels are commissioned, and soon all nations shall be 
seen bowing before the throne of God, uniting in one 
song, and worshipping before one altar. 

16* 



DEVOTIONAL FRAGMENTS. 



DEVOTION. 

The beauty which irradiates the countenance of 
the devotional, surpasses all that has ever appeared on 
earth. To define it would be to define spirit ; to paint 
it would be to catch the living thoughts of the soul ; 
to gaze upon it is to look on the blessed face of Jesus, 
as his beauty is reflected in the countenances of his 
children. 

Yet this flower of devotional beauty is not found in 
the torpor of the frigid zones, and wears a paleness 
even in the temperate zones of Christianity. It is 
under the full and direct glories of the Sun of right- 
eousness that its loveliness becomes like the rose of 
Sharon, and the fragrance of its spices flows out. The 
devotion of the head may lend an intellectual flash to 



188 

the eye, but the deep movement of the heart, and 
the stirring up of the tender, holy affections must give 
those more than earthly colorings to the human face 
that shines with the graces of prayer. 

The great secret of beauty is to engage soul and 
body in some object of pursuit so pleasing and desira- 
ble that every faculty of the spirit shall sweetly harmo- 
nize in its attainment, and borrow a resemblance in the 
delightful approximation. So nature, enamoured by 
the celestial beauty of virtue, and drawn towards her 
pure shrine, is baptized with her loveliness, and array- 
ed in her immortal robes. 



AN EVENING IN EUROPE. 

The evening was serene and beautiful — the last 
mellow tints of the setting sun were hovering over the 
western sky and reflecting their softened radiance on 
the bosom of nature. There was a sweet stillness in 
the air, and not a breeze ruffled the leafy grove or 
swept over the green fields. — The great eye of day 
had been gently closed, and night, attended by her 
glittering train, was just opening on the distant verge 
of heaven. 

It was the hour for musing — pleasant for meditation 
and prayer. The day had passed over with its usual 
accompaniments of bustle and noise and show, and I 



189 

was returning from the city to the sweet spot I called 
my home, in a romantic little village in the suburbs, 
when I was suddenly arrested by an unusual sound 
arising out of a mud hovel on the road side, partly hid- 
den by a hawthorn hedge. It appeared like the voice 
of one in earnest prayer. My curiosity was aroused 
because I knew the persons that resided in the cabin 
were of the most depraved character. Indeed I had 
often hurried by to avoid hearing their profane lan- 
guage. I stopped at the low opening that was intend- 
ed for a door, and without any further ceremony, as I 
did not wish to disturb them, passed gently in. But 
what was my astonishment when I beheld the whole 
family on their knees ; and the aged father, instead of 
heaping curses on his wife and children, as had been 
his practice for years, praying most fervently, accom- 
panied by bitter cryings and tears. I stood riveted to 
the spot. 

After they had risen, the old man came forward, 
and grasping my hand he wrung it heartily, and burst- 
ing into tears pointed towards a little boy who stood in 
the corner of the room with a Bible in his hand. 
"There," said the old man, " there stands my deliv- 
erer. O sir, he is an angel ; he has saved me and 
mine from ruin." I turned to the child and beheld one 
of my own Sabbath school boys. A few words ex- 
plained every thing. The Sabbath school scholar lived 
near this wicked family, and had an opportunity of 
seeing their bad conduct. His heart was touched with 
pity for them, and he contrived to get them a Bible, 
visited them frequently, and at last through divine 



190 

grace was made instrumental in saving them from total 
destruction. I passed on towards home, admiring the 
goodness of God in using such feeble instruments to 
promote his own glorv. 



LINES 

On the death of Rev. Dr. Payson, of Portland, Maine. 

A champion of the cross is smitten down 
Upon the battle field. His soul away 
On snow white clouds to heaven was borne ; 
His voice no more on Zion's walls shall ring. — 
Unhelmeted, unarmed — his warfare o'er — 
The victory won — the laurels gather'd 
Behold the man of God with glory crown'd. 

Is heard in Israel's host the sound of wo ; 
Along the lines a lamentation breaks — 
The trumpet mourns a great man fallen low, 
But has a triumph in its measur'd tone, 
For not ingloriously he fell. The shout 
Of victory hung upon his dying lips, 
And death's cold terrors could not chill him ; 
He stood on Jordan's shore, and longed 
To be with Christ. — 

Voices from heaven are in the stilly air — 
Loud songs are heard of holy minstrelsy, 
As Payson's spirit wings empyrean space. 
He's clothed in white — the starry gems enwreath 



191 

His sainted brows — an angel's harp he strikes 
And sweeps the sounding chords with songs divine. 
In memory's deep recess his image lies ; 
For, in the temples of his God, are found 
The pillars that he wrought with workman hand — 
The lovely plants he rear'd and taught to bloom 
In gardens watered with his tears — all speak 
His pious care. 

Forget thee and thy prophet's harp ? Oh, no ! 
The strings are broken, but thy voice is still 
Abroad. It wakes in gospel thunderings, 
Arousing hearts on which thy counsel pour'd. 

Farewell, 
Thou man of God, till towers collapse — till graves 
Are riven — till the trumpet sounds an alarm 
In heaven : then Oh, my brother, shall we meet, — 
And part no more. — 



SONNET, 



Calvary's brow is dark. The sun is pale, 
And thunder utter eth a fearful voice — 
The tread of earthquake shakes the hill and vale, 
While demons in their revelry rejoice. 
The multitude had fled like frighted sheep, 
But sheeted ones from their cold graves arise — 
As if the judgment trumpet broke their sleep, 
They fix on earth their dim, sepulchral eyes. 
Alone — deserted — Jesus yields his breath — 



192 

He bows his head in innocence and dies, 
And gives his sorrows and his form to death 
A mailed Roman stands apart and cries, 
By nature's terror waking signals aw'd, 
This truly is the Christ— the Son of God ! 



THE DEPARTED YEAR.— 1627. 

The year hath breathed its last — its hopes and fears — 

Deep burthened with the sighs and hapless groans 

Of broken hearts and friendship's nameless pang — 

All, all, have gone. Oh what false vows have risen 

From Lethe's realm, and plighted promises 

To mock confiding love, — and stain the page 

Of heaven's high chancery, where hath been traced, 

By the recording angel's iron pen, 

The immortal volume of the world's account. 

Upon its silken wing the year hath fled j 
Return it will no more ; no power save his, 
Who rolls the wheels of universe along 
The brow of the eternal hills, and spans 
Eternity, forever reaching on, 
Can blot the graven record from the skies — 
And long before the crush'd and leafless one 
Shall rise again and bloom in vernal charms ! 

With what a desolating hand the year 
Hath swept the earth ! Thousands, on whom its smiles 
In morning freshness play'd, are dark in night ; 
The tender bosom, in whose lov'd embrace 



193 

Reposed the cherub borrow'd from the skies, 
Hath sunk in death's cold sleep on pillow'd clods — 
Never again below the sun to bless 
The eyes of innocence, or gladden him 
Whose widowed heart will ever turn to thee, 
Thou bygone year, with bitter thoughts and tears 
Ensteep'd in memory's sorrow waking urn. 

The bright, the beautiful, the wise, thine eye 
Hath seen in robes of light, aerial, plumed, 
And scarcely touching the untrodden earth, 
So high the beatings of their morning joy ; — 
Again — thine eye fell on their faded forms, 
Where death's cold hand his ebon signet plac'd — 
The rose had withered on the damask cheek — 
The eye no longer shone — the arched brow 
Was cold as Parian marble, with whose snow 
It vied in whiteness. — 

Aye, and didst thou give the warning voice 
To him who drove ambition's fiery steeds 
And whisper in the thunder of his course 
The holy, kindly message — death is near ? 
And wast thou slighted and thy moments lost, 
Or scatter'd on the winds of night, as if 
They could return to fill the spendthrift hand 
That trifled with the boon — the pearl of bliss ? 

Though gone — still thou shalt stand alone. The page 
That holds the doings of this lower world, 
Within thy brief sojourning here, is mark'd 
With lines imperishable as heaven's high arch ; 
Sublimity is thine — thy moral grandeur rears 
In Eden's sunshine her immortal towers. 
17 



194 

The homage of a million hearts, subdued 

By grace divine — all grateful for thy space 

And counted sands, — heavenward thy wing hath borne ; 

New hallelujahs from unwonted tongues 

Have hymned thee sweetly to thy dying hour. 

***** The coming year — 
Oh, precious period of the golden age ! 
Count all its moments priceless, more than gems, — 
And dearer than the apple of thine eye, — 
And holy as the star begirded fane 
The spotless virgins guard with pious care. 



SONNET. 



The heavens grew black — the tempest's voice was high- 

The marshall'd clouds in mountain masses hung — 

The thunder broke the pavement of the sky, 

And o'er the earth and sea its terror flung. 

A bark upon the foaming billows lay — 

It rode the roaring surf — the maddening tide, 

And roll'd beneath the maniac lightning's ray ; — 

But Jesus slumbered in the vessel's side. 

The sound of winds and waves — the thunder's tone, 

Could not disturb the sleeper's dream of heaven, 

Yet roused he up at intercession's groan ; 

He spoke — and far the tempest fiend was driven — 

His clarion blew the blast of storm no more, 

And seas and thunders hush'd their booming jroar. 



195 



LINES 



On the death o/Rev. John Hutchinson, of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, who died in Boston, Bee. 1827— aged 21. 

The youthful herald is no more. His work 
Is early done. The dawn of hope that gleam'd 
Upon his course of promise, now is shrouded deep 
In sullen glooms along the vale of death. 

'Twas good to see him die — to note the star 

With beauteous beaming sink in western skies 

To keep its vigils in that better world ; 

'Twas sweet to hear the music of his words, 

As if some kindred ones in angel tones 

Held converse with earth's dwellers ere the morn 

Smote on the hills and tipt the spires with gold ; — 

Such was his voice as if the furtive winds 

Had borne a wandering strain from seraph lyres. 

Oh, how triumphant, when the stripling bared 

His bosom to the blow and calmly bade 

The monster do his worst !— - For he had bath'd 

His soul in heaven's own dews, and deeply thought 

How Jesus went into the vale alone, 

Shook its unearthly caverns, broke the crown 

And reft the sting, and lighted glorious fires 

Along the mansions of the voiceless tomb. 

'Twas right to call him home ere yet the noon 
Of manhood — while the tender dews of youth 
In grace and beauty lay upon his lips ; 
The Lord doth all things well — his sickle reaps 
The early field, but tares are left to burn. 



196 

No tear is on our cheek — no sound of wo 

Disturbs the lovely sleeper's sleep of death ; 

For in the resurrection he shall find 

Those whom his God hath given to him, 

And bind his brows with an eternal crown, 

On which shall burn the starry " gems of souls," 

Lending new beauty to the jasper walls. 



SONNET. 



The sisters mourned their only brother dead. 

The stone was roll'd away — and Jesus wept — 

While bowing o'er that lowly resting head, 

His tears bedew'd the earth where Lazarus slept ; 

He groaned in spirit — Jordan's waters shook — 

The tyrant death, upon his lightning track, 

Saw Him, before whose high, commanding look, 

He bore, in haste, his ghastly victim back ; 

A mightier than he had said— come forth — 

And lo, the Stygian cerements broke — 

The voice of storm roll'd from the angry north, 

And Lazarus, the pale, cold sleeper, woke ; 

For He, the resurrection and the life, 

Can rein the steeds of death in nature's mortal strife. 



DEDICATORY HYMN. 

The gorgeous temples, Lord, are thine, 
That bow beneath a thousand years, 

Whose walls dark ivy wreaths entwine, 

Whose aisles are worn with mourners' tears. 



197 

And there are towers that rise to thee 
Beyond the sapphire arch of heaven — ■ 

The temples of eternity, 

To thy redeemed children given. 

Yet, from the starry halls of light, 
Thy Spirit wings its viewless way, 

And comes in power and glory bright 
To fill these humble walls to-day. 

To-day — as if in heaven, we sing, 
And raise the song of sacred praise, 

Until this hallow' d court shall ring 
With our triumphant, grateful lays. 

We praise thee, Jesus, that thy name 
Has wak'd a feeble echo here, 

And kindled in our souls a flame 

To burn through heaven's eternal year. 

Oh triumph in the Holy One, 

Whose hand hath led us safe along, 

Until these temple walls were done — 
Oh, raise to heaven a glorious song. 



DEDICATORY HYMN. 

In some far off, uncertain day, 

This house shall be no more, 
And rude winds through these arches play 

With melancholy roar. 
17* 



198 

O then, as corner stones adorn 
The temple's perfect height, 

May thousands at this altar born, 
Bestud the courts of light. 

May thousands at this sacred shrine, 

Catch the inspiring flame 
That rolls its volum'd wreaths divine 

Around a Saviour's name. 

Let tones of music break along 

This consecrated dome, 
And wake the loud, triumphant song, 

When heaven becomes our home. 



DE WITT ClillVTON. 

Columbia's Eagle leaves his mountain throne, 
To wave his solemn wing in grief alone — 
Death's trappings shade the standard-bearer's brow, 
And his high heart is desolated now : — 
For ah ! his sun-lit eye, athwart the gloom, 
Saw arrows shooting, charged with mortal doom ; 
They fell — and demons laughed ; but millions wept, 
And one loud cry the chords of anguish swept ! 

Cold on the Alleghany's solitude, 
Where man's exploring steps can ne'er intrude, 
The standard-bearer spread his azure field, 
Recall'd his stars, and bade the whirlwinds yield 



199 

The stern unfurlings of his empire sheet, 

And trod its living folds beneath his feet ; 

For never should his flag of triumph wave, 

That hour when Clinton found his patriot grave. 

His eye, serene in sorrow's agonies, 
Along earth's bosom saw the inland seas 
With silver murmur kiss the ocean streams ; 
Then, like illusions, or Arcadian dreams, 
The roar of waters overpast the hills, 
And cheer'd the vallies with rejoicing rills ; 
The torrents call'd on Clinton's glorious name, 
And gave their channels to his deathless fame. 

He saw the halls of legislation dim — 

He heard the sons of science wailing him ; 

And gloom was on the altar, and the fires 

Lay lambent on the heav'n-directed spires ; 

The incense, burthen'd, roll'd its prostrate cloud, 

And prayer became the patriot's fragrant shroud 

To warm the icy hand of destiny, 

And dress him for a bright eternity ! 

But lo ! the heav'ns were brighten'd, and the shade 
That hung on mountain rock, and sylvan glade, 
Bow'd down before a mild, immortal eye — 
The genius came — her name was History j 
She claim'd her own, and gave her trumpets tongue 
To place his name immortal ones among : — 
Then sorrow's dreary, sad enchantment broke, 
And far and wide, earth's clarion voices woke. 



200 



MEMORY. 



How oft a gleam of other days 

Like quivering lightning round us plays, 

While mem'ry, imaged up the while, 

Entrances with its pensive smile, 

Transports us to the home we love, 

And bids us through our green fields rove. 

On fairy pinions hurried o'er 

A vast wide space, we touch the shore, 

And scent the freshness of the breeze 

That kiss'd the rich o'ershading trees, 

Where pure white blossoms fringed the hills, 

Or stretched along the purling rills, 

Touching the streamlets edged with flowers, 

Or springing up 'mid arching bowers. 



THE DEATH OF AN INFANT. 

The morning dawned, its glowing dies 
O'er heaven a mellow softness threw ; 

New glories lit the ambient skies, 
And rose the sun with ruddy hue. 

It was in truth a lovely morn 
To break upon the tearful eye 

Of her, who watched with heart forlorn, 
Her angel cherub, doomed to die. 



201 

'Twas beautiful, as if some look 

From purest spirits, hovering nigh, 

Had o'er the scene new glories shook, 
And filled with fragrance earth and sky. 

'Twas calm — no murmuring breezes rung, 
Nor nature spoke in that lone hour — 

'Twas sweet — for angels' voices sung 
As drooped the lovely, blooming flower. 

It turned its little head and sighed, 

And fluttering, stretched abroad its arms— 

We kissed it as it softly died, 

And wept to see its faded charms. 

Sweet innocent, farewell ! thou'rt gone 
To mingle with the blest above, 

And we are left to weep alone, 
And still thy mem'ry fondly love. 

Long as the vital spark remains 

We'll dream of thee, and speak thy name, 
And when our life to evening wanes, 

Oar babe, in heav'n, with joy we'll claim. 



THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

There is a Sun whose holy light 

The fires of heaven eclipse — it glows 

Above the clouds of sin and night, 

And through the world its radiance throws. 



202 

On Eden's bowers, its placid ray, 

Like sunlight on the hills afar, 
Reveals the dawn of gospel day, 

And shines, the lost ones' polar star. 

The lights of science feebly burn — 
The meteor flash of glory dies — 

Ambition fills the storied urn — 

In dust, earth's tarnish'd splendor lies ; — 

But everlasting fires adorn 

The firmament of truth and grace, — 
First lighted on that gladsome morn, 

When mercy shone in Jesus' face. 

Through sorrow's gloom, or deathlike shades, 

This penetrating glory beams, 
Like evening's star when daylight fades — 

Like memory on life's fitful dreams. 



THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE PAST IS SWEET. 

Is then indeed the remembrance of the past sweet ? 
O yes, but it is sweet only to those who can look back 
with joy upon a life well spent — to those whose days 
have been clear and calm and sunny — whose hours 
have been well husbanded, and every moment weighed, 
as misers weigh their gold. 

Past time is sweet when we can see floating upon 
its bosom the useful actions of our early existence, 



203 

reflected there from their record on high, where they 
are to remain forever, the perpetual memorials of our 
piety and virtue. 

It is sweet when we can go forth reaping the fruit of 
our labor and toil, and hear the new generations that 
rise up in our old age pronounce us blessed. Yes, 
even the remembrance, then, though the past itself has 
fled, will be sweet, and green, and fresh. It will give 
out every feature faithfully, and we shall find ourselves 
expanded, like the sun at setting, and like him too our 
appearance, though not so brilliant and imposing to the 
eye, will be round and glorious, while we shall feel the 
truth of the promised renewal of all that was worthy in 
this life on the morning of the resurrection. Then, 
when we shall have put off this mortal coil, the re- 
membrance of the past will buoy us above the ruins of 
a fading world, and give us peace in the presence 
of our Maker. 



THE SABBATH SCHOLARS. 



At the foot of a lofty hill, crowned to the summit 
with the richest verdure, a miserable mud cabin peep- 
ed out from among encircling brush wood and strag* 
gling elms. A wreath of smoke, curling up through 
the green trees, was the only sign that met my eye of 
its being inhabited. The sun had just risen, and over 
the deep blue heavens the thin clouds lay sleeping. 



204 

A stillness pervaded the spot, and I felt a thrilling 
sensation creep over me as I drew near the house of 
mourning. I paused at the entrance. A low mur- 
muring sound stole upon my ear, and again all was 
hushed. I gently opened the door and bent myself 
forward, to ascertain, unnoticed, what was passing 
within. I saw at the first glance that death had been 
there. The apartment, on the threshold of which 
I stood, was of the meanest construction. It was 
without a single piece of furniture deserving a name. 
In one corner of it a dead body lay stretched out, very 
slightly covered with a tattered coat, and a cold, hor- 
rible feeling ran through my very soul, and I should 
probably have shrunk away from any further investiga- 
tion, if I had not been suddenly arrested by a soft, 
sweet voice, mingled with a low death groan, that 
seemed to issue from the same apartment. I turned 
my head around, and beheld a sight that chained me 
to the ground. O, it was heart-thrilling to behold ! 
On a bundle of straw, a woman, somewhat in years, 
lay apparently in the agonies of death. Near her head, 
reclining in deep sorrow, was a beautiful little half 
naked child. On one side a lovely girl, about thirteen 
years of age, knelt. A Bible clasped in her thin, 
slender hands, with which she was endeavoring to com- 
fort her dying mother. I instantly recognized two of 
my Sabbath school children. The meeting was af- 
fecting. They had been without food for some days. 
The mother died next day in the triumphs of that faith 
which her little daughter taught her out of the Bible. 



205 



The girls grew up to be respectable members of soci- 
ety, and one of them has been a teacher in a Sabbath 
school for several years. 



RELIGION A SOURCE OF HAPPINESS. 

There is no subject presented to the immortal mind, 
so fascinating as true religion. All other subjects after 
a while weary us, and are altogether incapable of 
yielding that satisfaction which we need, and with- 
out which we are poor, and dark, and lonely. For 
after all, what is the world's frown, or indeed even 
friendship's warm embrace, and pleasant smile, and 
delightful intercourse ? What is any thing in these 
low grounds, be it sad, or joyous, prosperous, or ad- 
verse, life or death, without the pure consolations of 
the Gospel, the glorious hopes of immortality ? O, 
there is something in the religion of the Redeemer 
that lightens the heart's sad burden, and buoys us above 
the waters of affliction. In vain, while we feel its in- 
fluence, do the storms rage and the winds blow — in 
vain do blackening clouds fling their murky shadows 
across our path, and the lightnings play around our 
head. Religion, heaven's messenger, on wings of love, 
flies to our relief. Her hand smooths the ruffled brow 
of the contending elements, commands the rough winds 
to be still, and arrests the thunderbolt ere it destroys. 
18 



206 



THE FUNERAL. 



On the brow of a green hillock that gently rose over 
a sweet romantic village, I found myself in the middle 
of spring, after I had taken a long ramble through 
wood, and copse, and field, and garden. Spread out 
before me lay the varied and enchanting w T orks of a 
Divine artist in all their simplicity, harmony and beau- 
ty. Here and there were interspersed the frail works 
of man. The day was uncommonly fine. A glorious 
sun was pouring his fervid beams upon creation's re- 
newed and lovely face. No angry clouds were mar- 
shalled over the blue welkin, but deep and clear it 
looked as if the spirits of departed ones were lingering 
on its confines. The green buddings of a glowing 
spring had drank up all the shining pearls of night, and 
the feathered songsters of the grove were singing their 
jocund songs. 

I involuntarily cried out, such was the effect of the 
scene with which my soul was ravished — Here no 
despoiler's foot has been. Here health and peace and 
joy may revel, nor hear the wail of sorrow nor fear the 
touch of death. The lily that raises its fair and mod- 
est head beneath the friendly shelter of the branching 
oak could not have seemed more secure from winds 
and storms than this pleasant group of white washed 
cottages, under the protection of nature and of nature's 
God, from the intrusions of the last enemy of man. 
They were embosomed in a deep vale, and circled 
round and sprinkled over with all that romance ever 
thought or sung of fair Arcadian bowers. 



207 

While I was thus chained to the spot, and charmed 
with every object that met my eye, a slowly pealing 
sound stole upon the sweet zephyr, and falling mourn- 
fully on my ear, swept over the hill and died away in 
distant air. Another and another followed, and in a 
moment the whole train of thoughts in which I was 
about to indulge were forgotten. I looked intensely 
downward, and at the foot of the hill where I stood, I 
beheld a dark waving plume, and then a long train of 
sombre shadows, and then — ah ! it was death. He 
who is no respecter of persons nor places ; visiting 
alike the palace and the cottage — the dank and fetid 
air of a prison, and the sweet salubrious spots on which 
nature has lavished her richest ornaments. I hastily 
descended, but with far different sensations from those 
that had but a moment before ravished me with de- 
light. So soon do sights of wo put us in mind of our 
latter end, and mar the fair face of all earthly happiness. 
When I arrived among the throng of mourners, they 
were preparing to pay the last obsequies to the dead. 
They had chosen a pleasant nook, overshadowed by a 
tufted rock, where a few straggling trees had rooted 
themselves. It was a sweet spot to repose in. A little 
beyond the grave, spring had flung a few wild flowers, 
on which the drops of morning were still glistening. 
As I drew nearer, the scene became too interesting for 
the state of my feelings, which by the sudden change 
they had undergone, were unprepared for the solemni- 
ties of a funeral. An aged man, on whose polished 
brow time had gently laid its hand, and the storms of 
many winters their silver, was bending over the dead. 



208 

There he stood like the scarred tree whose foliage the 
lightning had blasted— for his darling, his only child, 
the comfort of his old age was no more. A few days 
only had fled since she was lovely, and blooming, and 
beautiful ; but the frost of death stole away her charms, 
and withered the roses on her cheek. In an unex- 
pected hour the despoiler came ; he breathed upon 
her, and she drooped her fair head upon the old man's 
throbbing bosom and died. 

The scene was too touching, and I turned away. 
But the surrounding prospect had lost its charm. In 
vain the birds carrolled up the sky, and (he breath of 
spring fanned the air. O death, I exclaimed, why 
wilt thou thus disturb our joys, and spread thy funeral 
pall over the fairest works of God ! I had indulged 
but a second in the unhallowed murmur when I heard 
the voice of prayer. I listened — my heart was affect- 
ed ; my mind became tranquil. Heaven opened on my 
eyes, my ears, and holy strains of celestial music from 
blessed spirits appeared to come down to earth. I 
looked towards the grave. The old man was suddenly 
inspired ; his bending form seemed to ascend ; his 
streaming eyes were raised to heaven ; he spread out 
his arms as if bidding the disembodied one farewell ; 
a moment looked, then meekly bowing his head, in a 
firm though subdued voice, said, Thy will be done, O 
Lord. The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken 
away, and blessed be the name of the Lord. — The 
grave was soon filled up ; the mourners slowly retired, 
and all around again assumed a smiling aspect, while a 
voice like the soft music of angels seemed to breathe 



209 

upon my ear these words, Know, mortal, that here 
thou hast no abiding city. There are fairer climes 
yonder. Prepare to meet thy God. 

I resumed my walk, and ever since, when the beau- 
ties of nature call forth my admiration and excite my 
feelings, they are blended with the solemn considera- 
tion that we must soon bid adieu to the scenes of this 
earth, and our mortal part, however fresh and vigorous 
now, be buried in its cold and wintry bosom. 



THE GOSPEL. 



The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a system fraught with 
benevolence, full of interest and meaning, and exceed- 
ingly important, because of its special bearing upon 
the happiness of man, both here and hereafter. It ex- 
hibits in an eminently superior manner all that is great, 
and grand, and sublime in heaven and on earth. It holds 
converse with eternity, and developes the mysterious 
workings of providence, which had been for ages hidden 
from the keen gaze of the wisest of the ancients. It 
embraces the history of the creation of the world and 
of man — his fall — the promise of a Saviour — the pre- 
parations for the fulfilment of that promise — the birth 
of Christ — his labors, sufferings and cruel death — his 
resurrection and ascension — the coming of the Holy 
Ghost. It holds up man as a partner with the deity, 
traces his various relations to God, to other beings and 
18* 



210 

himself — his high standing in the scale of intelligence — 
the origin of the soul and its immortality. But what 
stamps a dignity upon it above all other religions, is 
the grandeur of its object, even the moral revolution of 
our whole world — an object truly worthy of its author, 
God, and commensurate with his power and ability to 
accomplish. To this end all the springs of pure be- 
neficence, kindness and mercy, are broken up in Jesus 
Christ, and a wide field opened for the rich streams of 
salvation to flow freely to the hearts of all men. In 
short, the Gospel brings a message of peace and good 
will direct from the throne of God, sealed with his 
signet, and signed by the blood of Jesus Christ. 



THE LAW. 



The Law, no longer accompanied by thunderings 
and lightnings and the voice of a great trumpet which 
waxed louder and louder, assumes a more gracious 
aspect, because it is now blended with the mildness of 
the Gospel. The mountain of terrors is beheld but at a 
distance ; no black portentous clouds lower on its craggy 
summit ; no flaming cherubim with fiery sword guards 
its rugged base, but deserted, it stands alone, amid the 
frightful wilds of Arabia, silent as the eve of death : 
while the orient morning hath broken in upon the 
darkness of a long and dreary night, and the shadows 
of the Mosaic economy, and the thick mists of heathen- 






211 

ish error and superstition are rolling away from before 
the brightness of its rising. We now approach no 
blackness, nor darkness, nor tempest. Our spiritual 
Moses hath ascended into the heaven of heavens. He 
hath established a high altar on which a world may 
offer up the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. He 
hath commenced a splendid reign in the moral universe, 
and his heralds are gone forth to blow the trumpet of 
the Gospel to earth's remotest bounds. 



TIME NEVER RETURNS. 

As nothing can arrest, so nothing can recall time. 
Once gone, and he is gone, never to return ! Every 
moment, as it passes by, whispers to the poor pensioner 
on its bounty, farewell, forever. After he hath offered 
us the rich, the invaluable blessing, and we have re- 
jected it, it cannot be recalled. Though we were to 
cry loudly after it, and with tears of blood invite its 
stay, regardless of our agonies it would move forward 
and return not. Yea, though we were to call from 
sunrise to sunset, and like Baal's prophets, tear our- 
selves with anguish, yet would time remain inexorably 
deaf to all our entreaties. As we cannot recall the 
past, so neither can we blot out the crimes with which 
the pages of our life's short day have been stained. 
The page we have sullied, neither angels nor men can 



212 

make fair. There the dark spots must remain — the 
mementos of our prodigality and indolence and stu- 
pidity. O then, let us improve the golden moments 
while they are ours ! Let us work while it is day, lest 
the night of death, wherein no man can work, come 
upon us suddenly. 



SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 

Nothing this side of the eternal world fills the bosom 
of the christian, who is waiting for the consolation of 
Israel, with such a glow of holy rapture, as the glad 
tidings that redeemed ones are coming home to God, 
and that the cause of Christ is prospering upon earth. 
From the north and from the south, from the east and 
from the west, he beholds the sons and daughters of 
guilt and misery entering the kingdom of the Redeemer, 
and becoming the subjects of his grace. He sees the 
spreading glories of the cross, and rejoices in the trophies 
which are daily won by the church militant. These 
views inspire him with feelings of a truly sublime and 
elevated character, till, borne aloft upon the wing of 
inspiration, he looks forward with transporting triumph 
to the day when the kingdoms of this world shall have 
become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. 

The appearances of the present age are of an emi- 
nently cheering character. They are encouraging be- 
yond our most sanguine hopes. Our expectations are 



213 

outstripped, and, although a nation, as yet, has not 
been born in a day, the work of evangelizing the world 
is in progress. Sinners are bowing on every hand, and 
multitudes, that were but yesterday in open rebellion 
against the Majesty of heaven, have laid down their 
weapons of warfare, and are now arraying themselves 
under the banner of the cross. Infidelity is lowering 
her proud head ; the laurels of victory are withering 
on her brows, and her giant tread no longer shakes the 
mountain of the Lord's house. The engines of igno- 
rance, bigotry, and superstition, are weakened. Every 
thing around us is prophetic of a great moral revolution. 
The mighty machine which shall shortly move both 
heaven and earth, is coming forward. It is propelled 
by the hands and cheered by the voice of thousands. 
The prayers of God's people are more unanimous than 
they ever have been. They are concentrating, having 
one great petition to bear up before the throne of 
God, — even the salvation of a lost world. 

But what are the most prominent causes which have 
produced these wonderful effects ? 

Among the first, the noblest, and the most efficient, 
is a pure ministry, attended by its legitimate accom- 
paniment, the Holy Spirit. In this particular we are 
more highly favored than were our fathers. A more 
flaming, heart-searching ministry has not existed since 
the days of the apostles, than the one which has been 
brought into operation the present age. Laborers 
have entered into the vineyard, not drones, nor idlers. 
Men who have forsaken all, and taken their lives in 
their hands — men who have dared to be singular — 



214 

bold and intrepid men, who have borne the burden and 
heat of the day. Frowns have not awed them, smiles 
have not allured them. They have preached with the 
demonstration of the Spirit and with power. God has 
been with them, the mouths of gainsayers have been 
stopped, sinners have been converted, saints have re- 
joiced, and all the harps of heaven have been swept ! 
Some of these men have left the field, and entered into 
rest, and changed their garments rolled in dust and 
blood, and the helmet, and the sword, for the white 
robe, and the crown, and the palm of victory. Others 
have entered into their labors, and are warring a good 
warfare ; and many that have long bufFetted the storm 
remain in the harness, and are wearing out in the ser- 
vice. God, by these his servants, is threshing the 
mountains, and subduing the haughty ones of the earth, 
and breaking down the strong holds of sin. He is 
preparing the way before them, and making glad the 
wilderness and the solitary place. Go on then, ye men 
of God ; prophesy not smooth things, but contend man- 
fully for the truth, enduring hardness as good soldiers 
of Jesus Christ. Verily, ye shall have your reward. 

Another great cause of the present gracious spread 
of vital godliness in the world, is the united efforts of 
christians. Union is strength. When the christian 
church is united, the combined powers of earth and 
hell are insufficient to move it. Wicked men may rail, 
the iron hand of power may be stretched out against 
the Lord's anointed, and the tongue and the press may 
lift up their voices loud and strong to denounce her, 
and the uttermost parts of the earth coalesce to destroy 



215 

her beauty, and raze her even to the foundations there- 
of; still upon all her glory shall be a defence. A 
wall of brass the living God hath reared up about her, 
and he himself is the glory in the midst. And who, 
aye, who can molest or make afraid, while he who 
never slumbereth nor sleepeth, keepeth the gates of 
Jerusalem ? 

Among the most wonderful of the existing causes, 
are the Bible and missionary, and Sabbath school insti- 
tutions ; and the last, not least in the ranks, religious 
tracts and newspapers. 

The spread of the Bible has been productive of 
great and lasting good. It has scattered the seeds of 
divine truth over portions of land which have not been 
accessible to the missionary. It has traversed the 
rudest and most uncultivated spots upon the earth. 
It is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Pre- 
pare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the 
desert a highway for our God. Blessed Bible ! pur- 
sue thy glorious path in the moral heavens. Go on 
enlightening the darkness of those who sit in the valley 
and shadow of death. May thy brightness be the day 
star of the tossed and the bewildered, till both hemis- 
pheres shall have felt at one and the same moment the 
influence of thy sacred beams, and thy hallowed light 
spread over all the earth. 

Sabbath schools, though lesser streams, all flow to 
the same point, and are more or less auxiliary in pro- 
moting the work of God. These begin with the young, 
the tender, the unsophisticated. They are, strictly 
speaking, the nurseries of the Lord ; and those who 



216 

are engaged in leading little ones to Jesus on the Lord's 
own day, are highly privileged, are engaged in a great 
and good work. The Lord has prospered them greatly 
already, and he will continue to prosper them, yea, 
and more abundantly shall they be blessed. May our 
zeal in forwarding this important mean of religious in- 
struction, be commensurate with the greatness of the 
call for labor, and the hopes of an abundant harvest 
which it gives. 

The distribution of religious tracts has been justly 
considered as no small advancement to the cause of 
Christianity. Great benefits have accrued to the com- 
munity at large through this interesting medium of com- 
municating solemn truths to the thousands who, without 
their means, might have perished in their sins. Many 
a drunkard has been arrested in his mad career through 
the interposition of these silent monitors, who, notwith- 
standing they have no audible voice, are made pow- 
erful reprovers by the mysterious influence of the Holy 
Spirit, in applying them to the hearts and consciences 
of men. 

Religious newspapers next demand our attention, as 
not a whit behind some of the last mentioned causes, 
in coming up to the help of the Lord against the 
mighty. They are, in the judgment of christians, won- 
derfully calculated to infuse the spirit of inquiry and 
reading among the great mass of mankind. Here we 
have the features of the great work of God brought 
before our eyes in the faithful coloring of truth which 
cannot be controverted. The progress of the work is 
marked in every stage of its advancement, and the 



217 

triumphs of religion are announced with songs and 
rejoicings. The several parts of the wide field of mis- 
sionary enterprise, with the men who labor in them, 
and their peculiar characters and success, are all made 
manifest to the eye and to the heart of every attentive 
reader. The amount of good which they have already 
done, cannot be estimated— it is known only to God. 



RELIGION IS LOVE. 



Religion is pure, and, like its author, lovely and 
loving. It never lessens our attachments to one ano- 
ther, chilling our affections, and drying up the springs 
of charity and sympathy and fine feeling, that feed the 
river of the milk of human kindness in the breast of 
man. The religion of Christ warms but never chills. 
The bosom where it resides feels an influence and 
imparts one too which angels would recognize as 
kindred to what they inhale in their own Eden. Who 
can love the misanthrope, the poor, curtailed animal, 
once man, but now less than the noble being who is 
stamped with divine features and born for social enjoy- 
ments. 

When the great Christian Teacher was upon earth, 
his first lesson was love — a love of every thing good, 
and high, and noble, and extending itself over a world 
of intelligences. Its first manifestations at the throne 
of God, and its last, were for man. This is the lesson we 
19 



218 

are to learn, if we would be taught by it. While we 
exercise this principle we cannot go astray. It is im- 
possible. We shall stand in a broad place, covered by 
the panoply of Jehovah. And instead of becoming the 
slaves of superstition, or the tools of a party, we shall 
reverence the image of true religion, find it where we 
will, in the palace or the cottage, beaming from the 
face of the Indian, or shining on that of the African. 
Be the man of high or low degree, tugging at the oar, 
or galled by the hand of slavery, religion is the same 
in all. As she goes forth, clothed in the lovely regalia 
of her order, innumerable blessings attend her. The 
tears of the widow and the orphan are wiped away. 
Over the turmoil of life she spreads her hands, stilling 
the rude, rough surges of sorrow, and arching up the 
mourner's skies with the beautiful colors of peace, 
while around the world she scatters the bright orna- 
ments of serenity and joy. 



TO YOUTH 



There is no time so precious, so rich and promising, 
as the morning of our life, when flushed with health, 
and encouraged with bright prospects of future felici- 
ty, we begin to urge our way up the steep of exist- 
ence. It is then our characters receive the stamp either 
of vice or virtue, honor or dishonor. And we may 



219 

depend upon it, that according to the manner in which 
we spend our youth will be our happiness and misery 
in after life. Early prejudices take deep root in the 
human heart, and the force of habit, confirmed before 
we arrive fully to years of maturity, is hard to throw 
off, even when our better judgment would direct us to 
make the sacrifice, and we are convinced that neg- 
lecting it will be the cause of our ruin. Youth is the 
spring season of our days ; it is then we should culti- 
vate and improve our minds, or we shall be left, in ma- 
turer age, to lament our folly with bitter tears of sor- 
row and repentance, without the most distant prospect 
of ever making up for our immense loss. What is then 
left undone must remain undone forever. If we have 
wasted the morning of our days in riotous living and 
needless self-indulgence, without feeling the important 
and reasonable demands which God and society make 
upon rational intelligent beings, we must expect to 
reap the consequences of our indiscretions and prodi- 
gality. And is it not to be regretted, that these things, 
rendered so plain to the understandings of young peo- 
ple, and so often set before them, in a convincing and 
luminous manner, should be so generally neglected and 
despised, as though they were old wives' fables, not 
worthy of any notice, but to be treated with contempt 
and ridicule ? How many are led away into error," and 
imbibe false notions of things, thus weakening their 
energies, and blighting every bud of virtue in their 
souls, in consequence of having given a deaf ear to the 
wise sayings of the prudent, and the observing ? They 
would be independent and think for themselves, with- 



220 

out a knowledge of the ways of mankind, or the de- 
ceitfulness of their own hearts, and depending entirely 
upon their sagacity, are plunged into the very lowest 
sink of iniquity, covered with ignominy and shame. 
One departure from the strict rule of right, leads to 
another, and so on, ad infinitum. They may often 
promise themselves to do better, and even sometimes 
attempt a reform, but such, unfortunately, is the evil 
bent of our inclinations, when aided by a constant 
yielding to sin, that it takes more fortitude than human 
nature is commonly endowed with, to regain our true 
standing in the scale of moral rectitude. And yet, none 
are seemingly more unconscious of the dangerous ten- 
dency of evil propensities, when not properly guarded 
and brought under, than the youth himself — yet he ap- 
pears, at times, to be somewhat aware of his exposure 
to danger, and makes some feeble efforts to escape ; — 
but, most generally, by not hitting the exact moment 
when resistance would have brought him off victorious, 
he falls an easy prey to his enemies, and is shorn of 
his strength, to become the sport of the rude and 
unprincipled. That there are some noble exceptions 
in this case, we readily acknowledge ; but still, we do 
contend, that the number is very few, in proportion to 
the many that are taken captive and brought into sub- 
jection to the vitiated habits of a refined age. These 
things ought not to be so. In a country like ours, they 
bear the most unfavorable appearances, and are sure 
presages of approaching ruin. The very foundation 
of our rights and liberties, were originally laid in the 
virtue, probity, industry, and perseverance of our fore- 



221 

fathers ; and wherever we turn our eyes, we behold the 
glorious monuments of their good faith and religious 
feeling raised and elevated by the spirit of a well di- 
rected providence. And it is only by following their 
footsteps, and emulating their example with the blessing 
of Almighty God, that we shall be able to preserve our 
nation alive and in good health ; while others, that have 
long rode triumphant upon the car of glory, may lie 
rotting and dismembered around us. But if our youth, 
forgetful of their high birth, and careless of the patri- 
mony bequeathed to them by the illustrious Washing- 
ton and his associates, throw away their time and their 
talents to the winds and to the waves, what shall be- 
come of the palladium of our liberty, when its present 
guardians have sunk beneath the weight of years, cov- 
ered with glory, and bedewed with the tears of the 
good and brave. Where then shall we look for aid, 
but to our young men, and if they are found wanting 
in the great requisites necessary to form characters fit 
to give a proper tone to society, and take their stand in 
the high places of public trust and honorable competi- 
tion — what can we expect but to see our country in 
mourning, and all her honors strewed in the dust. At 
present, we know there is but little to fear on this 
ground. Yet, notwithstanding, we conceive it to be 
our duty to be watchful and vigilant, lest being found 
off our guard, we may be taken by surprise, and lose, 
in an unhappy moment, what has been so dearly pur- 
chased by the blood of our best citizens. Let us, then, 
warn our young men of their danger, let us stir up their 
pure minds, by continually reminding them of their in- 
19* 



222 

valuable privileges, and the great work for which they 
are preparing. Let every mother hold up to her son 
the history of the great Washington ; that first, that 
best, that noblest of men. In a word, let every parent, 
and every guardian of youth, and every friend to the 
cause of religion and virtue, come up to the help of the 
Lord against the destroyers of the young and inexpe- 
rienced, and wherever they see them given over to the 
tormentors, and consumed with ennui and dissipation, 
lift up their warning voice like a trumpet, and cry aloud 
and spare not. 



THE DEATH OF FRIENDS. 

There is, in the death of friends, an overwhelming 
sensation of sorrow, nameless, as it is oppressive and 
soul harrowing. While we hang over the languishing 
form of the beings we love,, to whom we are knit by 
the fondest and most endearing ties, and administer to 
their wants, we are now and then visited by a gleam 
of hope, and our hearts are gladdened in the prospect 
of their recovery. But alas ! it is momentary, and 
like a glance of moonshine on the stormy seas, only 
makes us feel more keenly when we find ourselves 
disappointed. We hope and despair alternately, and 
in the thousand little offices that soothe the sick and 
the dying, reconcile ourselves in some degree to the 



223 

approaching scene, that, in an instant, and at a single 
stroke, cuts us off from every thing but submission. 
As the hour of separation draws near, we see the cer- 
tain approach of the despoiler of our species in the 
glazed eye, the matted hair, the clammy forehead, 
and the clenched, busy hands, as if the soul was in- 
stinctively struggling to free itself from its earthly 
house. O, what gloomy forebodings are conjured up ! 
We feel the tug of nature at our heart strings. And 
as the pale ghost advances steadily to the outlet from 
which it ventures into unknown regions, we are drawn 
instinctively beyond the bounds of time ourselves. 
The convulsive shuddering, the heaving of the breast, 
the sepulchral voice, thickening and dying away in 
inarticulate sounds, the hoarse death rattle, give note 
that the last struggle has arrived which will speedily 
terminate the existence of a loved object, and throw a 
wide, unbounded sea between us. But who can paint 
the feelings of the soul when the kindred spirit, gasp- 
ing, trembling on the verge of the unknown world, 
takes the fearful departure — when exhausted nature, 
drooping under the giant's hand, sinks down subdued, 
and expires. There is a crowded sensation about the 
heart, and we feel as if the same hand that has severed 
the brittle thread of life is feeling about our vitals, and 
wringing the warm drops of blood from our broken 
hearts ; and then the sunken eye, the stretched limbs, 
the hollow cheeks, proclaim in language not to be mis- 
understood, that all is over. What a cold, icy, lonely 
dejection falls upon the spirits ! The chamber where 
the grim monster strides over his prey is invested with 



224 

a torpid atmosphere, and we are, as it were, transport- 
ed -with the departed one, to the valley of the shadow 
of death. The world for a brief moment seems a 
blank, and all our joys, like flowers, withered by the 
rude, rough blast, droop and are no longer lovely to 
the senses. A dark cloud hangs over our destiny. 
Death's black eclipse has overshadowed us, and we 
brood over our sorrows and will not be comforted. 



SPRING. 

Lovely spring, we greet thee ! Thy brows are 
crowned with chaplets. Thou fillest all the air with 
music, such as angels love. The blustering winds 
soften into gentle gales. The silent brooks break 
out in brawling numbers, and the melifluous throats 
of feathered songsters wake the soul to holy mus- 
ing. All nature feels the throb inspired by genial 
spring, and waking into life, hails, with one har- 
monious sound, the ethereal mildness of her glowing 
presence ! Soft showers descend like dew upon 
the top of Hermon, shedding their rich pearls on every 
herb and tree and opening flower ; and distilling life 
and health through all their interlacing roots. The 
monarch of the day, no longer dimmed with clouds of 
fleecy snow and chilling frosts, early opes the portals 
of the sky and marches forth in peerless majesty, pour- 
ing forth his bounteous streams of light over awakened 



225 

nature. The sweet south breathes upon the tufted 
hill, and sweeping gently o'er the leafy grove, catches 
the sweet odour of the budding shoot and spiry grass, 
and pours it fresh upon the ravished sense. 

Pleasant the voice of spring to those, who, pent 
within their lowly hut, and pinched with cold and want, 
have counted, like the dungeoned prisoner, every day 
with care and longed to see the fairy footed harbingers 
of her coming. Yes, ye children of wretchedness, 
with joy ye see your native hills now softening into 
verdure, while the loosened stream, leaping from the 
craggy steep dances at your feet, and sparkling, rushes 
over its pebbly bed in pleasant murmurings. How 
gladly now ye press with buoyant step, the green 
enammelled turf, and urge your way with eager joy 
through thick entangled shrubberies and forests wide, 
to wield the axe, or dash your iron furrow in the yield- 
ing soil, or strew the bursting seed, or plant the strip- 
ling tree. 

The merry music of the opening dawn now calls the 
peasant from his humble pallet, and cheers him with its 
softening harmony. Every living thing looks gay. The 
bounding deer rushes through the twining brake, and 
birds and beasts, from feathered nest and caverned 
den, come forth to hail reviving spring with notes of 
praise or uncouth gambols. 

Happy spring ! The time for man to plant, and 
sow, and toil, in full hope of a good reward when yel- 
low autumn opens wide her bounteous hand, and pours 
her richest treasures at his feet. Air, earth and sky 
put forth their energies; all their stores are lavished on 



226 

his work. They wait upon him as his servants, satisfy 
his every want, and help him to lay up treasure for 
his future need. 

And is not life the spring of our existence, the time 
to cultivate the mind, improve the understanding, better 
the heart ? Then let us improve it with diligence and 
zeal, that when the Judge of all the earth surveys the 
works of high born spirits, we may deserve the welcome 
plaudit, Well done good and faithful servant, — and be 
ready to enter the Canaan of eternal blessedness, 

" Where everlasting spring abides, 
And never withering flowers." 



MAY. 



The beauties of this lovely month are most delight- 
ful. There is a freshness and simplicity about them 
that creep like the soft sound of the iEolian harp over 
the sense, and charm and fascinate. They are like 
the new blown tints of the fair daughters of Eve, when 
they first begin to show the early promise of a riper 
age. May brings along with it a variety of pleasant 
and many gay associations. The suddenness with 
which it changes the wrinkled and hoary visage of 
winter into smiles and rosy dimples and all the flowery 
drapery of rainbow hues, is attractive. We cannot 
help feeling a deeper interest in the young summer 
than when she appears before us, fully matured, adorn- 
ed with all the rich paraphernalia of the glowing year. 



227 

Every thing is new and fresh, and blooming. The 
voice of spring is now more mellowed than when first 
she sang a requiem to blustering winds and nipping 
frosts. The turbulent streams, softened by the genial 
smiles of May, roll smoothly over their pebbly beds, 
reflecting the pure cerulean sky with shining ripples. 
The gale comes scented with a richer perfume from 
the leafy grove, and by its chaste and virgin kisses, 
flushes every cheek with health and pleasure. 

But ah ! how soon the rosy hours expire, and 
flowerets on their icy pillows sleep, and storms begin 
to rage and winds to blow and pleasure die ! Thus it 
is with man. In youth's fair prime he brightens on the 
stage of life and blooms awhile, but blooms not long. 
The cold, bleak storm of death comes rushing over his 
silvery locks, and scatters them with the seared leaf of 
autumn. He soon mingles with the dust — but ano- 
ther spring reanimates the fallen glory, and the hand of 
heaven transplants it to a flowery clime, to flourish in 
immortal beauty, unhurt by elemental wars and chang- 
ing seasons. 



THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM. 

And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, 
for a witness unto all nations. — Matt. xxiv. 14. 

It has been preached in the world now for upwards 
of eighteen hundred years, and notwithstanding all the 
opposition that has been raised against it by the wicked 



228 

and unprincipled, it has hitherto triumphed over the 
combined efforts of its most malignant and powerful 
foes. 

It has been preached in the world, and is now 
preached to the family of man, as a witness to them 
that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, 
but rather that he should turn and live. 

It shall be preached in the world ; and God himself 
shall witness to the truth of its pure doctrines and pre- 
cepts, and that too in a wonderfully glorious and effec- 
tive manner, by changing the whole face of society — 
and transforming every uncultivated spot upon the foot- 
stool into fruitful gardens. 

It shall be preached, and become a witness to a 
world of unbelievers, that they may be convinced that 
he who raised this splendid fabric, by the word of his 
mouth, is able to spread the knowledge of his saving 
love from the rivers to the ends of the earth, and that 
what he has spoken shall most assuredly come to 
pass. 

It shall be preached for a witness to all nations — 
none are excluded in the universal commission given 
to all true ministers of this Gospel of the kingdom. It 
matters not how remote, or dark, stupid or immoral 
they may have been. Though spell bound by hea- 
thenish or Mahometan delusion — conscience bound by 
superstition, priestcraft or bigotry, they shall hear this 
Gospel of the kingdom, and every spell shall be bro- 
ken — every chain and fetter burst from every mind, 
till the inhabitants of the whole earth are subjugated to 
the mild sceptre of Immanuel. 



229 

Thus will the Gospel of the kingdom, like a sacred 
talisman, touch the nations of the earth ; and institu- 
tions, venerable by reason of their antiquity shall perish 
like the spider's web, and universal joy and gladness 
fill the world. 



MAT^tNITY. 

Lo ! at the couch where infant beauty sleeps* 
Her silent watch the mournful mother keeps ; 
She, while the lovely babe unconscious lies, 
Smiles on her slumbering child with pensive eyes, 
And weaves a song of melancholy joy. 

Pleasures of Hope. 

The softest, sweetest, the most delicate and touching 
feature in the domestic circle, is where maternal so- 
licitude discovers itself in the thousand nameless little 
attentions towards lovely innocence. The pencil of 
Raphael would be inadequate to the task of delineating 
the expressive, the soul thrilling gaze of her whose 
throbbing breast beats affection to the precious little 
one, lent her from the skies. The opening charms of 
spring in its livery of green, and harmony of inspiring 
sounds from unfettered brooks, and newly peopled 
woods and groves, may be considered as affording true 
pictures of the unfolding beauties of infant loveliness, 
and the pleasing train of buoyant thoughts that $fe 
imaged up by the fond mother, while fancying herself 
already repaid for all her cares, and tears, and anxie- 
20 



-*;* 



230 

ties. These moments are the most delicious of her 
existence — moments of bliss on which she feasts with 
mingled sensations of pain and pleasure. It is not a 
paroxysm of joy in which she revels. Her feelings, it 
is true, are awake, and every pulsation of her soul 
trembles like leaves when kissed by whispering breezes. 
But we speak of feelings we are incapable of compre- 
hending — feelings attuned only to the fairest and love- 
liest of God's works, and felt only by them, to which 
man must, at least in part, ever remain a stranger. 



THE BURIED ALIVE. 



It was the still hour of night, and over the dark 
blue heavens the starry worlds were twinkling. Na- 
ture's bosom, serene and tranquil, reflected a beautiful 
variety of dimly discovered objects to the eye. Nought 
was heard in that lone hour save the gentle rustling of 
the leaves of a gloomy cypress tree, whose umbra- 
geous branches flung their black shadows amongst the 
cold monuments of the sleeping dead. The silvery 
light of the pale moonshine lay in long lines here and 
there over the stones and mounds of earth that sur- 
rounded me, and in large patches slept along a gentle 
declivity that rose a little beyond the narrow houses of 
the departed ones. I advanced slowly, inspired with 
the most profound awe and reverence : but was sud- 
denly interrupted by a dreadful groan as of one strug- 



231 

gling and suffocating, and tugging for life. My blood 
ran cold through my veins while a convulsive shivering 
crept over me. — I had been imperceptibly led by 
the mildness of the evening far beyond my usual walk, 
and became bewildered in my return, and, without 
knowing where I was, had wandered on and on till I 
happened to spy what first appeared to me like a gar- 
den, through which I ventured in hopes to find a house 
— and behold I was treading on the ashes of my fel- 
low beings. I now paused, undetermined what to do. 
The night was far advanced — which way to flee I knew 
not. Supernatural terrors had never affected me be- 
fore. Indeed I used to pride myself upon my strength 
of nerve, and often smiled at the imaginary fears of 
others. But the stifled groan that had met my ear 
paralized all my faculties and quite unmanned me. I 
had not time to recover myself when another and an- 
other groan, uttered in an undefinable and unearthly 
manner, rose up out of the ground near me, and fell 
heavily on my heart. — What my sensations were in 
that dread hour, I know not. I have only an indistinct 
and feeble recollection of what passed. All my limbs 
grew stiff and cold, and I felt as though I were turned 
into a living statue. Pale and motionless I stood. My 
eye balls glaring wildly and my teeth chattering. Yet 
my brain seemed on fire and my clenched hands were 
stretched out as though I would have relieved. I re- 
collect I tried to bend myself forward, and shrieked and 
then my throat grew dry, and then a groan would come 
up from the imprisoned and dense earth, and die-away 
upon the chilled and dewy air, and again an awful still- 



232 

ness would reign around. At last nature as if aroused 
from a stupor into which fear had evidently thrown 
her, lent me new strength, and with a desperate effort I 
plunged forward on the place from whence 1 imagined 
the sounds proceeded, and falling prostrate upon a new 
made grave fainted away. The grey morning was just 
peeping out over the eastern hills when I came to my 
recollection. The grave on which I had fallen was 
fresh. Not a tuft of grass had grown upon it, though 
spring was now far advanced. Indeed it was very 
evident, that it had but recently received its tenant. 
The approach of day banishing my fears, I endeav- 
oured to shake off my foolish apprehensions, and with- 
out delay assembled the few cottagers that I could find 
at that early hour, with the sexton, whose cottage lay 
only at a little distance. As I had no doubt that some 
unfortunate being had been prematurely hurried into 
the tomb before life had been wholly extinguished, we 
set about digging up the new made grave, and, shocking 
to relate, on removing the lid of the coffin, which was 
already somewhat wrenched from its flimsy fastening, 
we found a man nearly turned over on his side, his 
face frightfully distorted and almost blood warm. From 
every thing we could gather, he had been literally 
buried alive. A solemn warning to all against prema- 
ture interments. 



JACOB. 

Alone, wrapt in the visions of sleep, exposed to the 
dews of midnight, rested the houseless patriarch. The 



233 

cold earth was his bed ; the stones were his pillow ; 
but his sleep was sweet, and his intercourse with God 
and holy angels delightful. The dread of his brother's 
vengeance was forgotten in the gracious assurance given 
him of almighty aid and divine protection. The morn- 
ing dawns upon his rugged bed ; the vapors of sleep 
are dissipated ; the pleasing spell broken, and he 
awakes. With silent astonishment, he gazes around 
him, looks in vain for the bright assemblage of angelic 
spirits, and him who appeared as standing upon the 
verge of the better world above them all. He listens 
with the most intense interest to catch the thrilling, 
heart-cheering sounds that had broken upon his ear 
in the sweet oblivion of sleep. But no voice, no sound^ 
interrupt the stillness of the scene. While pondering 
on the mysterious vision, a solemn grandeur seems to 
invest the spot on which he had slept. The very air 
breathes of heaven. He bows — he adores — and taking 
the stone he had for his pillow, he sets it up for a pillar, 
and pouring oil upon it, cries out, filled with the most 
sublime conceptions of the divine majesty, — and this 
stone which I have set up for a pillar shall be God's 
house. 



SAINT PAUL. 



While examining the pages of history, and looking 
through the postern of time long elapsed, our attention 
is very often arrested, and our feelings excited, by the 
20* 



234 

wild grandeur in which the heroes of antiquity are in- 
vested. The partiality of the historians of those days 
of chivalrous deeds, the romance and high wrought 
enthusiasm of the times, and the lofty perceptions of 
their poets, have contributed, in no small degree, to 
cause that magic influence which is almost universally 
felt by mankind, while contemplating the master spirits 
of other days. But where do we find such a soul 
moving in the breasts of their most renowned warriors 
and statesmen, as may be seen stirring in that of the 
great apostle of the Gentiles — point us out the spirit 
among them all, who, though fettered and imprisoned, 
yet maintained a noble contest with principalities and 
powers, and with spiritual wickedness in high places. 
His intrepid soul no chains could bind, no threatenings 
shake ; he was alike regardless of sufferings, and un- 
moved by the flatteries or applause of men. — Other 
great men move forward with the tide ; the wave of 
glory buoys them up ; the breezes of prosperity waft 
them along ; nature herself aids them in their bold 
undertakings ; both the Indies pour treasures at 
their feet, and hosts of armed bands succeed and back 
their most ambitious projects. But in Paul we see a 
man pushing against wind and tide, buffetting the rude, 
rough surges of a thousand adverse seas, smiling at 
impossibilities, trampling upon opposition, poor and 
penniless, forsaken, distressed, insulted, and degraded, 
— yet contending with a world of foes, and maintain- 
ing his ground even in the very heart and centre of 
the dominions of the prince of darkness. In a word, 
the case of Saul of Tarsus, once the bold persecutor 



235 



of Christianity, afterwards its most zealous and success- 
ful champion, is without a parallel in the history of 



man. 



THE CONTRAST. 



A death bed scene is contemplated by most men 
with horror, when it is darkened by the agonies of a 
human being who feels in his last moments the lashes 
of a guilty conscience, and expires under the just dis- 
pleasure of God. Truly, nothing can be realized on 
these eventful shores, of a more fearful and heart-rend- 
ing description, than the last hours of one borne down 
with the heavy pressure of disease — the past rising like 
a spectre before him, and the future with terrible re- 
alities manifest before his eyes. He shudders over the 
deep abyss of the eternal world, already full of unut- 
terable imaginings. — He is one who had been blessed 
with time, opportunity, and with numerous religious 
privileges, — now about to lose them forever ; nigh unto 
death and wholly unprepared to meet his God. Such 
are chased out of the world by the fiends that have 
long held possession of their hearts. They are driven 
away by the rod of vengeance that they had long despi- 
sed — taken in the snares of their own devices, in the 
very retreats they had covered with the curtains, of 
pleasure and beauty. 

The life of a wicked man is often a life of gaiety, 
thoughtlessness and presumption ; but his death is an 



236 

awful scene of horror and misery. No light from heav- 
en irradiates his dying bed. It is all thick darkness ; 
the past, the present, the future — all, all, above, be- 
neath and around him, is obscured by an impenetrable 
mist. 

" What horrors seize the guilty soul 

Upon a dying bed ! 

Lingering about these mortal shores, 

She makes a long delay, 
'Till, like a flood with rapid force, 
Death sweeps the wretch away !" 

But oh, what a different scene opens to our view in 
the death of the truly pious ! To them the monster is 
no unwelcome visiter : they tremble not before him. 
They can cry out in holy triumph, O death, where is 
thy sting ; O grave, where is thy victory ! Their sins 
trouble them not — they are buried in forgetfulness, to 
be remembered no more against them forever. Their 
skies are clear ; for the sun of righteousness hath dis- 
sipated every cloud, and beams forth joy and gladness 
upon their souls. The atmosphere is pure and pleas- 
ant ; for angel bands fill the ambient air, and the sweet 
breezes of paradise already fan their sinking spirits. 
The prospect before them is transcendently glorious ; 
faith expands their vision, and hope beautifies the sur- 
rounding scenery, and love stands at the very gates of 
the celestial city, ready to usher the ransomed prisoner 
into its mansion of blessedness. Here are no indica- 
tions of a soul in despair, racked with the throes and 
sufferings of perdition anticipated and begun. Not that 
the righteous all experience an uninterrupted peace, 
and bask in the clear sunshine of assurance in their last 



237 

struggles with death. Few, however, there are, who 

cannot say, in the hour of agony, — I know in whom I 

have believed. For me, to live is Christ — to die is 

gain. 

" Jesus can make a dying bed 

Feel soft as downy pillows are, 
While on his breast I lean my head, 
And breathe my life out sweetly there." 



DEATH. 

" Tell me, frighted nature, what is death ? 

Blood only stopped, and interrupted breath, 

The utmost limit of a narrow span, 

And end of motion which with life began ?" 

No strength of constitution can withstand the stroke 
of death. Men may boast of their robust form, their 
muscular force, and continued good health ; but all 
these must yield to this agent of eternity. Those who 
have stemmed the rushing torrent, breasted the raving 
elements, and boldly ventured out on the boisterous 
deep, strangers to fear, firm and collected in the hour 
of danger, and in the day of battle,— even these, be- 
come an easy prey and fall prostrate and powerless 
under the hand of death. When he aims the blow, 
the physician's skill — his drugs and restoratives are of 
no avail. They lose their healing influence and refuse 
their wonted support to the springs of life. All earthly 
connexions are dissolved by his blighting touch. His 



238 

summons arrests the aspirations of youth and beauty, 
of ambition and fame. The ascendant star of glory 
falls like lightning before his desolating look. Reck- 
less of a nation's hopes, he blasts them in an hour, and 
sports with princes as bubbles on the eddying tide. 
He knows no remorse nor pity, but presses on in his 
soul harrowing work, unmoved by the beautiful and no- 
ble ruins which are daily falling around his path. See 
the dark form of the monster lowering over his victim. 
His icy fingers chill life's warm current ; the attenu- 
ated thread is broken — the smiles of connubial joy 
have vanished — the sunshine of friendship has passed 
away — the dearest ties that bind man to earth are sun- 
dered. Though we loved as Jonathan and David, yet 
will death ere long shroud the object of our affections 
in the dark tomb, and wrest the blessings of life from 
our embrace. 



TIME. 

" Time, as he passes us, has a dove's wing, 
Unsoil'd, and swift." 

The beauties of nature, the wonders of creation, 
the mysteries of providence, are not closed from obser- 
vation. They manifest themselves in a variety of 
ways and become visible to the eye, and the ear, and 
the heart. Subjects, the most profound, and seemingly 
beyond the reach of thought, rise up before us suddenly 
and unexpectedly. Nature is seen bursting through a 



239 

thousand channels ; providence fills the world with her 
ministers ; heaven and earth are filled with signals of 
operation visible to the senses ; but the movements of 
time are covered with obscurity. Silent and unseen 
in its progress, it steals along, noiseless as the foot-fall 
of fabled sprite, or disembodied ones. As it journeys 
to eternity, the flowers of spring wither, the beauty of 
summer fades, the richness of autumn passes away. 
Its effacing fingers imperceptibly tarnish the cheek of 
loveliness, and trace deep furrows on the brow of 
care. Although unseen in its flight, yet it never 
ceases to bear us forward on its silken wing. 

" Whate'er we do by night or day, 
We're travelling to the grave." 

We shall soon find ourselves plunged into unknown 
regions, where the history of our unprofitable lives 
have gone before us to darken or beautify that other 
world. 



HAPPINESS. 



True happiness results from the action of a well 
governed mind, under the influence of religious princi- 
ples. It is a rare attainment, and one which but sel- 
dom prevails in the human breast for any considerable 
length of time, without being ruffled by the elements of 
passion or feeling, which frequently disturb the most 
peaceful and happy. There is nothing that presents 



240 

itself so often to the mind, and appears with such a 
winning aspect, as what men generally term happiness ; 
yet nothing can be more fleeting or deceptive. 

" We grasp the phantom, and we find it air." 

Happiness is the first and the most beautiful object that 
attracts us in the outset of life, and there are none 
who do not promise themselves to enjoy it in all its 
fulness, at some time or other before they die. Its 
image is constantly flitting before our eyes in its most 
fascinating array, with inviting smiles, and beckoning 
us to draw near and realize all our bright imaginings. 
Attracted by its loveliness, we wait for no calculations ; 
we rush forward with precipitancy, and pursue the 
phantom through the mazy dance of pleasure, and 
already fancy ourselves revelling in full possession of 
its boasted charms, till cruel disappointment crosses 
our path and every thing around us becomes more 
dreary than before. — Something like happiness is en- 
joyed by the youthful tyro, whose aspiring soul dilates with 
ambitious longings ; he who treads on air and rears his 
proud castles high in clouds, and supposes that fortune's 
smiles are permanent, soon falls back to earth again. 
The baseless fabric of his visionary hours vanishes 
into airy nothing, and he is doomed by disappointment 
to plod his pilgrim way alone through time's dreary 
waste. There is, too, in the first entrance on the stage 
of busy life in the society of those to whom we have 
plighted the vows of earthly love, a sweet satisfaction, 
nearly amounting to happiness. The soul flutters 
around these new and enchanting scenes. The tender 



241 

endearments of connubial joy that cluster before the 
family hearth, attract ; and, for a brief space, at least, 
we pause, admiring the novelty and fitness of such a 
life to quiet the elements that have raved within. 
Here, says the weary one, I shall find rest. The 
proud waves of anxious expectancy, the tumultuous 
throbbings of desire are here stayed. I have now 
found a home, and like the dove would stay in this ark, 
no more to. wander to and fro over all the earth, seek- 
ing for ease and quiet. But ere long the horizon is 
darkened, the clouds gather, the tempests blow, and 
we are amazed. Amazed, indeed ! what is there 
here beneath the circle of the sun which heaven has 
fashioned like the soul ! Or where does it find its 
centre, there to remain and be at rest forever ? Is not 
its mate a being of to-day, whose mightiest boastings 
are like air, whose standing is shaken in a moment, 
and whose fortunes all seem gathered within a narrow 
space, or play around a single point of time ! Can 
earthy or sky, or vast creation bound the stretch of 
thought, or fill the mighty void . ? No verily : 

" There's nothing here deserves our joys, 
There's nothing like our God." 

In him alone true happiness is to be found. He 
hath so ordained it, that nothing but himself can stay 
the aberrations of the mind, and fix the soul perma- 
nently. — God is the true centre of all happiness and 
enjoyment. When we arrive within the influence of 
his attracting love, we breathe an air, pure, untroubled 
and serene. We move no longer at random ; but by 
21 



242 

the immutable law of love, sweetly revolve around 
our Father and our God, feeling full upon our souls 
the refracted rays of his benevolence, truth and mercy. 
It is God who lifts us up above the world, sets our feet 
upon a rock, establishes our goings, and puts a new 
song into our mouth. We reach by faith the suburbs 
of the heavenly world, and scale the mount of bliss. 
Are we seeking happiness from impure motives, under 
unhallowed influences, directed by base principles ? 
We have no lot nor part in the matter. Let us rather 
raise our thoughts to heaven and fix our eyes on him 
who is invisible. Let us seek the friendship of the 
great God, he who has condescended to call himself 
our Father and our friend, and by our lives and con- 
versation, show that we have indeed been with Jesus. 
Then we shall feel and know a happiness complete 
and lasting which shall never be taken away from us ; 
but which will grow brighter and brighter unto the 
perfect day. 



ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 

It was the nation's Jubilee. — On that day, fifty years 
before, America had declared herself free and inde- 
pendent. Her shackles fell off, and disenthralled and 
emancipated, she arose and took her station among the 
nations of the earth. The morning of the jubilee was 
ushered in with the thunder of cannon and the shouts 



243 

of freemen. Three venerable men, remnants of the 
patriotic heroes who signed the Declaration of our In- 
dependence, hailed that auspicious morning with joy. 
But oh, with what exalted feelings must they have been 
inspired ! Their cup was full — it was running over. 
They were amid the crowded cities and smiling ham- 
lets of a new world — in the midst of the third and 
fourth generations of a people with whose sires they 
had been familiar. There they stood, bearing about 
them the honorable marks of long service, bowed 
down with years, and withered, and frosted, by the 
hand of time ; commanding respect even from their 
enemies, and calling forth the admiration of the new 
race of men who looked up to them as travellers gaze 
upon stupendous monuments of departed days. 

Two of them have left us. Their strange and sud- 
den departure, at a time the most remarkable in the 
annals of our history, is not to be forgotten. They 
have left us to sorrow because they are not ; but, 
thanks be to God, they have not left us alone ! The 
ascending patriarchs have dropped their mantles. 
They rest upon many of our countrymen. The same 
spirit that inspired them — that moved their compatriots 
— that roused our beloved Washington to deeds which 
will ever render his name and his memory dear to the 
brave and the good, still glows in the breasts of our 
citizens. 

The Almighty has always appeared to manifest a 
special interest for our nation. He watched over it in 
its infancy, conducted it through every stage of its 
eventful struggle with Great Britain, and brought it 



244 

forth from the conflict triumphant. We may now con- 
template a phenomenon of providence which will be 
gazed at by the enlightened of every < quarter of the 
globe. In permitting these sages to depart at such an 
eventful moment, another wonder is added to our 
country's history — one more imperishable line, God 
himself hath added, that can never be erased. 



PROFANATION OF THE SABBATH. 

In whatever light we view the Sabbath, whether 
with regard to its origin, influence, or effects upon soci- 
ety, we must ever consider it as one of the greatest 
benefits conferred upon mankind — as an institution 
from which we derive the greatest personal, social, and 
national advantages ; and which has evidently raised 
us in point of true greatness, far above those nations, 
either entirely ignorant of it, or doubtful of its divine 
appointment. And we may add, that in proportion to 
our reverence of the day, (let others call it supersti- 
tion, if they will,) are temporal as well as spiritual 
blessings bestowed upon us. Where the holy Sabbath 
is disregarded, and the duties connected with it neg- 
lected, there the curses of God fall heavily — there are 
mildew and blasting, pestilence and death. These are 
facts, that require but little sagacity to comprehend, 
and are confirmed by daily observation and experi- 
ence. 



245 

What kind of apology, then, can we make for our- 
selves — we, who have been, or are now guilty of vio- 
lating the Sabbaths of the Lord, either by precept or 
example ? How shall we answer for our sacrilegious 
conduct, in thus robbing God of that which is his own, 
sanctified and hallowed by him for the most important 
and sacred purposes? Do we regard our own personal 
interests ? If we did, we should not only be punctual 
in our attendance upon the worship of God, on his own 
appointed day, to render him due homage in his 
courts ; but we should also carefully abstain from every 
thing on that day which could in any measure offend 
so holy a being, bringing down misery and ruin on our 
own heads and those of others. 

Do we regard the spiritual, the eternal welfare of 
our families ? It is to be feared that we regard other 
matters with deeper interest, while the concerns of a 
future, interminable state of existence, which will be 
happy or miserable, according to the improvement we 
now make of our religious privileges, are considered 
light, in comparison to what the world calls great and 
honorable. 

We make the Sabbath, very frequently, subservient 
to our pleasures — a day of feasting and amusement ; so 
that instead of being rendered a blessing to us, it brings 
a curse upon us, and infamy and disgrace upon our 
children. 

Are we lovers of our country — true to it in weal or 

wo f No, verily — we are base traitors to its dearest 

interests, deserving of shame and reproach, if we are 

found breaking the Sabbaths of the Lord, or accessary 

21* 



246 

in any degree, in leading others to do the same. Can 
it be denied, that a vast proportion of our fellow citi- 
zens, pay as little regard to the Sabbath as the untu- 
tored savage, and hail its return only because it seems 
to favor their habits of indolence, affording them a 
favorable opportunity of gratifying their depraved appe- 
tite for self-indulgence ? It is to be deplored, and we 
say it with shame and with confusion of face, that in 
keeping holy the Sabbath day, the children of the pil- 
grims have fallen off, very much indeed, from the glo- 
rious example of their fathers. We talk, and write, 
and preach much about the growing prosperity of our 
country, and the wonderful effects produced by the 
various religious institutions, and publications without 
number, that have for their professed object the moral 
improvement and general good of the millions which 
compose our rising republic ; but are not fully aware 
of the great drawback to all these well aimed efforts, 
in the actual existence and baneful effects of Sabbath- 
breaking — an evil, which we believe, has scarcely an 
equal in the catalogue of abominations now abroad in 
the land, and is bringing in its train the most ruinous 
consequences. It may be termed, with much propri- 
ety, the parent of every vice that disgraces human 
nature. — Intemperance, infamy, murder, suicide, are 
its offspring. They are the natural consequents of 
this God-dishonoring, soul-destroying iniquity. Would 
we avoid this wasting pestilence, that has already made 
desolate many a moral garden, that once flourished in 
all the beauty and freshness of the first Eden, we must, 
with one vigorous blow, strike at the root of this enor- 



247 

mous sin, that the branches which grow out of it may 
fall, wither, and decay ; and then, all those who find 
shelter under its deadly shade, will be forced to flee. 

However, this work of purification in the moral 
world can never be accomplished thoroughly unless the 
most strenuous exertions are made, not by a few hum- 
ble individuals merely, but by the great body of the 
christian community. 

Much as we should deprecate any infringement upon 
the liberty of conscience, which prevails to a very great 
extent in these United States, and is their glory and 
boast ; we cannot but think, that the Sabbaths of the 
Lord, which are acknowledged even by enemies, to 
have always had the most benign and salutary influ- 
ences upon society, should be held sacred by our 
countrymen ; and where their efforts to preserve its 
purity are unavailing, and they behold the Sabbath- 
breaker continuing his course, unmoved by the warn- 
ings and expostulations of his friends, trampling, with- 
out remorse, upon all law, human and divine, — it is 
then high time that something more effectual should be 
done to guard this sacred institution. 

There have been ways and means, well devised by 
the authorities of the land, in order to check the high- 
handed and lawless conduct of such men, lost as they 
generally are, to every thing that exalts and dignifies 
the human character. We are defective, not so much 
in principle, perhaps, as in energy and perseverance. 
Let us awake from our slumbers, and by a virtuous 
and religious course of manly conduct, show ourselves 
on the Lord's side. Every American citizen is deeply 



248 

interested in this matter. The happiness, the well 
being of society, of our children, — in short, our all de- 
pends in a great measure, upon the tone of moral feei- 
ng that is kept up and preserved in the community at 
large. Without it, we could but rank with the abori- 
gines of our country, and indeed, I know not, but we 
should have to take a much lower place, and herd 
with brutes. And shall we tamely yield to the de- 
stroyer, and behold without a struggle the ruin which 
it hath already brought upon us and ours ? Can we 
look upon the broken down and defaced intellectual 
temples, which lie in the dust before our eyes, and not 
reflect upon what they might have been, had they by 
a timely, prompt and judicious interference, been pre- 
served from falling so low. 

While vast plans are in hopeful operation to dis- 
seminate Christianity throughout America, and we are 
sending the bread of life to the perishing in foreign 
lands, let us not be forgetful, ourselves, to keep holy 
the Sabbath day. Let us at home, around our fire- 
sides, in the social circle, and to the world, announce 
publicly, and without wavering, our resolution to hallow 
and reverence it as long as we tabernacle on earth. 
This will have some effect. It will have a noble 
effect, and perhaps in time, if we continue faithful, it 
will work a universal reformation in our highly favored 
land. May the day soon arrive, when there shall be 
nothing to annoy or to make afraid, in all God's holy 
mountain. 



249 



SABBATH SCHOOLS. 



There never was a more auspicious era than the 
present for the religious, moral and intellectual im- 
provement of the human mind. A vast portion of the 
ignorance, error and superstition that had for ages 
maintained a control over mankind has been eradica- 
ted by a course of operation long thought incompetent 
to the undertaking. In accomplishing what has been 
done for the melioration of society, Sabbath Schools 
have borne an honorable and efficient place. When 
they were first brought into operation, as is generally 
the case with new and untried projects, they were 
condemned, and for a length of time, doomed to ob- 
livion ; until the salutary effects produced in the very 
few and remote places where they had been establish- 
ed became public, and caught the eye of some eminent 
individuals. From that moment Sabbath Schools 
gradually advanced in favor with the good and great, 
and have continued to the present day performing 
wonders in the rising generation. 

The beneficial effects of Sabbath Schools are not 
so glaring, nor so easily demonstrated to superficial 
observers as those of other institutions ; but they are 
no less permanent and conducive to the best interests 
of society. They have been tried in the balances of 
the sanctuary, and have not been found wanting. 
They have been well tested and their sterling value 
has not depreciated. And although they have passed 
through many a severe ordeal, there have been found 
men who have espoused their cause and never wavered 



250 

from their honorable purpose until they had the satis- 
faction of beholding the enemies of Sabbath Schools 
yielding themselves up to the firm conviction of their 
great utility in reforming the manners of youth, and 
giving them proper notions of the respect due to the 
Lord's day, and to his revealed word. 

But notwithstanding the good they have already 
been the means of doing, and the extensive credit 
they have obtained among the enlightened, the philan- 
thropic, and the religious of almost every denomina- 
tion, much more may be done, much more ought to 
be done, that a due proportion of energy may be 
transfused throughout our country — an energy that 
will bear more immediately upon meliorating the con- 
dition of the thousands of untutored children that 
crowd our towns and cities, and are wholly regardless 
of the Sabbath day. 



INDEPENDENCE. 



There is a spurious kind of independence abroad in 
the world which passes with many for genuine. But 
it is as far from true independence as rudenes is from 
politeness. There are those who feel puffed up with 
pride, and are continually boasting of their indepen- 
dence, and really imagine themselves in possession of 
this high-born quality, when they have no lot nor part 



251 

in the matter. That which they call independence 
deserves not the name. It has no affinity to it. If 
they feel stubborn and unyielding, why, forsooth, it is 
independence ; and if they are dogmatical and per- 
verse, notional or rude, all these base born feelings 
constitute, in their estimation, an independent spirit. 

True independence is congenial to virtue and religion. 
It is not a proud, overbearing, tyrannical gust of low 
passion, fostered by an unmeaning, affected pride. It 
takes its rise in that knowledge of ourselves and of our 
own attainments which comports with true dignity. It 
is immoveable in principle, but yielding in appearance, 
— and is an exalted attribute of the human character. 
Like the oak, the monarch of the forest, when around 
the storms and whirlwinds play, it bends majestically to 
their contending fury, but rises again stately and un- 
broken. 



WOMAN. 



Man is a social being. He was formed for society. 
The divine similitude in which he was fashioned has 
given him powerful attractions, and made him capable 
of enjoying a large proportion of felicity. He was 
never created to move within himself, and to form the 
centre and the circle of a selfish sphere, narrowed and 
circumscribed by a lonely and cold hearted destiny. 
God saw, when he formed man, that it was not good 



252 

for him to be alone, and he provided him a partner 
suited to his dignity, to enhance his enjoyments, and 
exercise the flowing affections of his manly soul. 
Woman was the being heaven moulded for this be- 
nevolent purpose. — Fairer than the virgin rose, and 
beautiful as an angel of light, she came forth from the 
hands of the divine architect, and burst, with a glorious 
brightness, upon the ravished vision of the first man. 

Woman in her high estate, and bearing about her 
the softness and mildness and charming naivete so 
truly characteristic of her lovely nature, is the most 
beautiful and the most desirable of God's gifts. It is 
woman that first teaches man to love, and inspires him 
with the noblest sentiments of religion and virtue. 
Where she follows the order of providence and moves 
in her own pure orbit, the lustre that surrounds her is 
bright with holy radiance, and the air she breathes, sa- 
cred and hallowed as the breath of heaven. Her so- 
ciety promotes virtuous feelings, is the best antidote to 
the ills of life, and the sweetest solace to man under 
the depressive influence of disappointed hope. Where 
it is sought with pure motives and appreciated and 
honored by man, the rough edges of his character are 
imperceptibly worn away in her company. She gives 
new and enchanting colorings to his prospects, greater 
strength to his attachments, and more sublime and 
beautiful imaginings to his stern nature. The woman 
who inflexibly sustains her rank in society, is a blessing 
wherever she resides. She is, in hereslf, a host. No 
tongue can defame her, no sacrilegious hand destroy 
her. She moves securely within the panoply of her 



253 

virtues, dispensing light and peace and joy to thousands. 
O, it is delightful to contemplate this fair and beautiful 
creature, blending the enchanting characters of wife 
and mother in one untiring and ever anxious desire 
to please. 



ALL IS VANITY. 



Vanity is written on all earthly things. It is inscri- 
bed in large and legible characters on the seeming 
realities of life, and the dazzling glories of the world 
serve only to give out the motto with greater truth and 
certainty, as the lightning's vivid glare in the awful 
hour of midnight renders horrible the darkness with 
which we are enveloped and the danger to which we 
are exposed. The fashion of the world is subject to 
continual change, and its beauty decays like the au- 
tumnal leaves. How vain and unsatisfactory are those 
idols of the heart around which our fond fancies had 
entwined themselves. And in our waking dreams, oh, 
what a perpetuity of blissful hours seemed to await 
us in the distant vista of life. Joy behind joy in end- 
less perspective. For a while, at least, we may realize 
the pleasing vision. But we soon awake from our 
slumbers ; the delirium into which we had been thrown 
by the fascinations of time and sense leaves us, and a 
new train of reflections take the place of those enthu- 
siastic notions which had been leading us to destruc- 
tion and to the grave. In truth, the clouds, that are 
22 



254 

chased over the face of the heavens by winds and storms, 
are not more evanescent than the fortunes of men. 
The spider's most attenuated thread is cord, is cable to 
the ties that bind us to this deceitful clime. The froth 
of the ocean is not more light and trifling than the 
empty things which are continually demanding so 
much of our care and attention ; nor are veering winds 
more changeable than the smiles, and frowns, and 
plaudits of our fellow-worms. All is vanity here be- 
low, ever promising but never performing. In what a 
poor cheating world we dwell. We look abroad in 
the morning of our days and greet the fair surface of a 
thousand joys ; dazzled with the many glittering objects 
that invite our ardent gaze, we believe them all fair 
as beautiful, and lasting as fair ! At the most distant 
idea of deception we spurn. We cannot imagine that 
such loveliness should ever wither, until the hurried 
hand of time strips them of their borrowed charms, and 
applying her dripping sponge washes away the paint 
with which they had been beautified. Then, and not 
till then, do we discover the imposture. The haggard 
visage of despair frowns upon us, and we find our 
most brilliant expectations have failed, leaving us poor 
and penniless, the sport of winds and of waves. 



THE FUTURE. 



It is covered with darkness. Uncertainty hovereth 
around it. No mortal ken reacheth beyond the present 



255 

now. We may dream about it, and fancy we see it 
before our eyes, and live in the midst of it by antici- 
pation — but after all our fancyings, it is not. An inex- 
plicable cloud hangs over it, and shuts it out from the 
prying eyes of mortals. We see not the bare and 
rugged paths over which our feet are destined to travel. 
The torture by which our finest feelings may yet be 
tried, we feel not. The shock of parting spirits, and 
the almost insufferable pangs of widowed loneliness we 
cannot realize. The ills of life which flesh is heir to, 
are so distant from our view, we think nought about 
them ;— but press along in our journeyings through this 
unfriendly clime, plucking the roses as they bloom. 
And although our fellow travellers are daily suffering 
before our eyes, to warn us of what we ourselves must 
sooner or later endure ; still we go forward without 
thought, unprovided for the future, and putting off 
from day to day the great preparation necessary for 
the hour of trial. 

O how thoughtlessly we live ! How careless to 
provide for the future ! How little we estimate our 
time ! That precious jewel, which if weighed and 
valued with attention, would be found inestimable — 
beyond price ! " more precious than silver or gold, or 
all that this earth can afford." What we have left un- 
done, must remain undone forever. The future will 
never fill up the chasm we have made in our past lives. 
We cannot recall the past, neither can we blot it from 
our memory. It will remain there through all future 
time to disturb us with its baleful presence. 



256 

The future, although not seen, is at hand. It comes 
to weigh our conduct in the balances of truth. Its 
voice will be like thunder. Its charges weighty and 
just. It is fraught with the rich harvest of our past and 
present industry, or with the briars and thorns and 
pains and sorrows, the natural consequences of our 
shameful neglect and sinful sluggishness. It comes to 
scatter our plumes in the dust, and to cover us with 
clouds and darkness ; or to light up our souls with the 
rainbow of joy and hope. Would we look at the fu- 
ture with composure, let us improve the present. Do 
we tremble at what may befall us ere we lay our heads 
in the dust ? Let us remember that religion can sup- 
port us under all our trials here below. Is there a 
fearful foreboding and uncertainty resting over our 
minds concerning an hereafter ? Thanks be to God, 
even in this we may be confident, that he who applies 
his heart unto wisdom, and lives in constant preparation 
for his last and great change, shall be covered with the 
pavilion of God's love. 



JESUS CHRIST. 



Great is the mystery of godliness — God manifested 
in the flesh. The word was made flesh, and dwelt 
among us. Mysterious connexion ! He who was the 
brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image 
of his person, — by whom also the worlds were made. 



257 

The alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end 
of all things, submitted to be clothed in humanity ; for 
he did not take upon him the form of an angel, nor of 
a super-angelic spirit ; but hear it, O heavens, and 
be astonished, O earth, he became man — he veiled 
himself in our fallen nature, was despised and re- 
jected — a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief! 
He was despised and we esteemed him not, but we 
esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 
He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised 
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace 
was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. 

He who dwelt in the palace of the skies, attended 
and worshipped by myriads of bright spirits, deigned 
to become a poor, forlorn, deserted stranger in a 
world of woes. The foxes had holes and the birds of 
the air had nests ; but the Son of God had nowhere 
to lay his head. 

Jesus Christ was justified in the spirit. The patri- 
archs, holy men and prophets saw his day afar off and 
were glad. They rejoiced at the approaching advent 
of the Messiah, and believed in his name. A special 
messenger was sent before him, who testified of a 
mightier prophet than he, whose shoe latchet he was 
not worthy to unloose. I have baptized, said he, with 
water, — but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. 
He announced him to be the Son of God with power. 
At his baptism, the Spirit descended upon him in 
bodily shape like a dove, and a voice from heaven de- 
clared, — thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased. At his transfiguration upon the mount, while 
22* 



258 

he yet spake, a bright cloud overshadowed him, and 
behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, this is my 
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye 
him. There were miraculous appearances at his death. 
There was darkness at noon day which continued till 
the ninth hour. The veil of the temple was rent in 
twain, the earth quaked, the rocks rent, the graves 
were opened, many bodies of the saints which slept 
arose, came out of the, graves, went into the holy city 
and appeared unto many. The centurion who stood 
over against him, smote his breast, saying, truly tin's 
man was the Son of God. 

" Can love allure us or can terror awe ? 
He weeps ! the falling drops put out the sun — 
He sighs ! the sigh earth's deep foundation shakes." 

Jesus Christ was seen of angels. They beheld him 
in his low estate and ministered unto him. The ce- 
lestial ones, who sang together, when they saw creation 
rise up fair and beautiful at their author's mandate, 
struck their golden lyres to sweeter and softer strains 
when they beheld the star of Bethlehem, dawning 
upon the confines of creation. Then seraphic music 
filled the air. And suddenly there was with the 
angels a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God 
and saying — Glory to God in the highest, on earth 
peace, good will to man. In the wilderness after forty 
days of severe temptation and fasting, an angel min- 
istered unto him. In his agony in the garden he was 
strengthened by an angel. At the sepulchre, the 
touch of a radiant inhabitant of glory rolled aw 7 ay the 



259 

huge stone that sealed its entrance. Behold there 
was a great earthquake— for the angel of the Lord 
descended from heaven, and came and rolled back 
the stone from the door and sat upon it ; his counte- 
nance was like lightning, and his raiment was as white 
as snow, and for fear of him the keepers did shake 
and became as dead men. At his ascension, while his 
disciples looked steadily towards heaven, behold two 
shining ones stood by them in white apparel. 

Jesus Christ was preached unto the Gentiles. At 
his death, the way was opened for a universal display 
of the divine glory. The Mosaic economy, with its 
appurtenances, being the mere shadows of a more glo- 
rious manifestation vanished away — and now all the 
dwellers upon earth are invited to participate in the 
general jubilee. At first, there were but twelve poor 
fishermen, men selected from the lowest of the people, 
ignorant and unlearned to raise the standard of the 
despised teacher. But soon numbers flocked around 
it. Jerusalem ceased to be the only rallying point, 
and the whole civilized earth owned its sway. 

" See how great a flame aspires 
Kindled by a spark of love." 

Thus saith the Lord God, behold I will lift up my 
hands to the Gentiles, and my standard to the people, 
and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and their 
daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders, and 
kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy 
nursing mothers. 



260 

Jesus Christ was received up into glory before hun- 
dreds of his disciples, who were eye witnesses to the 
fact. For he was taken up, and a cloud received him 
out of their sight. 



THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 



-suddenly a star arose ; 



It was the Star of Bethlehem. 

It was my guide, my light, my all ; 

It bade my dark forebodings cease ; 
And through the storm and danger's thrall 

It led me to the port of peace." 

H. K. White. 

Our state in this vale of tears is a mixed one. Life 
may be likened to the winds, ever shifting. Some- 
times it appears as calm as summer evenings are, and 
again, storms and tempests chequer its even surface, 
darkening every prospect and rendering scenes, once 
bright and joyous, gloomy and bleak as the plains of 
desolation. But even over all these scenes there is 
one star seen to brighten. In the absence of all that 
renders life tolerable, in weal or wo, in joy or sorrow, 
it still beams out unchanged and undimmed. It shines 
in peerless beauty, dispensing its blessed light at all 
seasons, and even when it is forgotten, and we steer 
wide of its heavenly direction, still it seems to twinkle 
near us. This is the star of Bethlehem. It goes be- 



261 

fore us, shooting downward its golden brightness, and 
then again it plays like a thing of life athwart the dis- 
tant vista, that had, for a brief moment, shut in, black 
and dark as midnight. O what heart rending sensa- 
tions pervade the torn, lacerated bosom of the afflicted, 
when they see the gigantic shadings of life's fitful pic- 
ture cover for days this pole star of their hopes ! 
Dark, dark, are all present things, though arrayed in 
the pomp and glitter of this world's splendor. In its 
absence, a storm is abroad more horrible than ever 
startled ocean's hardiest sons. But, O who can de- 
scribe the extatic joys, which inspire those who have 
groped their way for years without one cheering beam 
of hope, or spark of glimmering day, when they come 
out upon prospects touched with divine penciling, 
lighted with this star of peace, the harbinger of all 
God's promised blessings ! With what unutterable 
satisfaction and pleasure they gaze upon this token of 
a Saviour's love, as it lights them along in the path of 
duty, and, walking in its brightness, ushers them into 
the presence of him who lit it up in the moral heavens 
to be our guide to endless bliss. 



THE VOICE OF CONSOLATION. 

This world is not our home ; here we have no con- 
tinuing city. We are therefore daily reminded by the 
passing occurrences of life, that we must hasten our 



262 

preparations to depart and be with Christ which is far 
better. This world is also full of affliction. From 
the cradle to the grave, we are hurried along through 
trying scenes ; disappointments and bereavements, al- 
most without number, harass us on our journey, and 
throw around us a settled gloom — which the sunny 
rays of hope can scarcely pierce. But, notwithstanding 
we are strangers and pilgrims upon earth, passing 
through a wilderness alternately dark and light, with 
here and there a green spot on which to repose, we 
are not without hope. No, blessed be God, there is 
a voice that reaches us louder than the roar of the 
tempest, and in the stilly night sweeter than the music 
of angels. This voice comes from the throne of God. 
It is tuned to the sympathies of the suffering ones, and 
its language is the eloquence of mercy, when she 
appears stretching out her wings over suffering human- 
ity, and soothing the bosom of the weary and the dis- 
consolate. We have an almighty friend. He it is 
who superintends all our affairs, conducts us safely 
through life, and orders all for our best good. On this 
rock we may rest in hope and fear nothing. He never 
chastises his children willingly, nor burdens them be- 
yond endurance. God is love ; here let us rally our 
spirits, and while we utter this consoling passage, let 
every warring passion be still. If we are sufferers, 
bowed down under the chastisements of our heavenly 
Father; if we are writhing under the pangs of a smitten 
heart, broken off from all that is held dear upon earth; 
if the world looks like a blank to us, a shadow, and 
all within the compass of our vision, hopeless and de- 



263 

sponding ; yet thanks to that Great Being who sitteth 
at the helm, there is a remedy — and, through the Son 
of his love, a sovereign halm for every wound, a cor- 
dial for our fears. All is not lost; the grave has not 
entirely withered our hopes. He who hath commis- 
sioned the angel of death to disturb our peace, can by 
his presence, soothe our sorrows, and sweeten the bit- 
ter cup he has put to our lips. .He can — nay, he has, 
— O yes, thou afflicted one, cast down and not com- 
forted, be of good cheer, the Master has called for 
thee. He commands thee to put on thy beautiful gar- 
ments, and his commands are enforced by the gentle 
assurances of his paternal regards. He breathes into 
thy heart the pleasant calm of a quiet and resigned 
mind, and kindles up the distant vista with the lights of 
virtue and religion, and bids thee tread lightly and 
pleasantly in thy future journeyings, till the chariot 
of Israel and the horsemen thereof arrive, and thou 
wingest thy happy flight to the paradise of God, where 
sorrow and sighing flee away, and the weary are for- 
ever at rest. 



THE RETROSPCT. 



As we stand on the borders of the new year, and look 
back upon the past, O what a multitude of weighty con- 
siderations arise to induce us to husband our time for the 
future, and to prepare for the closing year of our lives ! 



264 , 

The year, now just closing, presents a dreary picture to 
the careless. It is pregnant with useful lessons. Let us 
then review the traces it has left behind, and the ruins 
of the beautiful temples it has laid low. The grave 
now covers thousands who commenced the expiring 
year with bright prospects, rich in this world's gain, 
and flushed with health, animation and hope ! Little 
did many a father, who now sleeps in the silent tomb, 
dream, at the opening of the present year, that he 
should be called so soon to bid adieu to his darling 
babes. Hundreds who stood on its threshold, attired 
in the gay drapery of fashionable folly, are wrapped 
up in the muffler and winding sheet ; the dew falls 
heavily on their low couch ; the worm riots on the 
damask cheek, and the long grass waves over their 
hard pillow. O, how death has gorged himself! The 
young, the beautiful, the proud, the gay — son and sire, 
matron and maid, have rolled down the tide — have 
been swept away and are not. What multitudes have 
been driven away in their sins, without a moment's 
warning, unannealed into the presence of their Judge ! 
What death bed scenes have been witnessed where 
the horrors of awakened consciences have been too 
harrowing even to think of, much less to depict ! How 
many have been smitten down in the very act of re- 
bellion against the Almighty, and while, with impudent 
effrontery, they were violating his laws and impreca- 
ting dreadful curses upon their own devoted heads. 
And has death only been busy ? Has not' a long train 
of miseries afflicted our world since the commence- 
ment of the year ? Behold the children of want and 



265 

wretchedness ! Within a few brief months their sunny 
prospects have changed; their friends have disap- 
peared, and hunger and nakedness now stare them in 
the face. Go through the prisons — see those dun- 
geoned wretches. The present year rose upon many 
of them in peace ; they were surrounded with plenty 
in the bosom of home, and shone in the domestic 
circle. O, how they are fallen ! how changed ! how 
degraded ! See yonder proud vessel, like a thing of 
life, sweeping over the blue wave. Ah, there goes 
the widow's hope, the mother's joy. Her heart bleeds 
and longs for his return. Alas ! a yawning billow has 
swallowed up her darling idol, and she goes down to 
the grave in sorrow. 

But what import has our conduct borne to the 
skies ? What retrospect can we take of the past year ? 
Is it not before God, written as it were with sunbeams ? 
There, our actions have been already approved or 
condemned. Have we been spendthrifts, squandering 
without reflection, our precious moments ? Has our 
improvement been proportioned to the labor and vast 
expense that have been laid out upon us ? The great 
favors that have been showered upon us, how have 
they been requited ? How disproportionate our zeal 
and ardor to our knowledge, and the great demand 
that has been made upon our exertions ! What vol- 
umes of idle words have escaped us through the past 
year ! What a niggardly display of the charities and 
sympathies of the Gospel ! Where are our good 
fruits ? To what end and for what purpose have we 
been living ! How often have we staggered by reason 
23 



266 

of unbelief, despised the cross, forgotten to deny our- 
selves, and trifled with our obligations, murmured at 
providence, neglected the means of grace, been cold 
in religious duties, indulged unholy tempers, unhallow- 
ed thoughts, and trampled upon the authority of Je- 
hovah ! Our unfaithfulness has already summoned 
justice to her work. The fiery sword waves over the 
guilty, while a voice like the sound of many w T aters 
and mighty thunderings, cries aloud, cut them down ! 
And shall this year end our probation? Is the door 
of mercy closing against us forever ? Is the fearful 
harbinger of death knocking for entrance, to deliver 
his message and sound the alarm in our ears, this year 
thou shah die ! — O let us hasten to the foot of the 
cross ! See that mangled form ; hear that pleading 
voice — Father forgive them — Spare them this year 
also. — Did ever sounds more thrilling, more cheering, 
fall upon the soul of the condemned ! Shall we dare 
to live another moment without God ? — O that the 
closing year may witness our rebellious hearts broken — 
melted and subdued ! 



THE BIBLE. 



The volume of inspiration teaches the purest and ho- 
liest lessons, in the simplest language, yet elevated far 
above the highest pitch of human thought. The doc- 
trines and precepts which it inculcates are strict and 



267 

moulded to perfection, defining our duty with accuracy, 
associated with sanctions and authorities unquestionable 
in their nature, and secure from the folly and the wrath 
of man. It does no violence to the best feelings of the 
pure heart. It offers no hindrance to true enjoyment. 
It requires nothing from our hands, but what must, in 
the issue, tend to our highest good. 

The Bible, when permitted to speak, fills the soul 
with conceptions immeasurably grand. Its rich and 
mellow tones harmonize the mind and raise it to the 
region of celestial beauty. The breath of heaven is 
in the air. The turbulent passions are hushed. My- 
riads of the blest crowd around the enraptured soul, 
and the very elements seem charmed, while the 
Eternal holds audience with his creature, man. 

Oh, it is our best and most constant friend — al- 
ways the same, and ever on the giving hand. And 
wherever its visits have been cordially received, its 
presence hailed with joy, and due respect paid to its 
kind and unwearied exertions in our behalf, — there a 
second Eden hath sprung up — there the social circle, 
and the domestic hearth, are blessed. The milk of 
human kindness, mingling with the crystal stream of 
life, is sweetened — and the charities and sympathies of 
our nature are expanded. There the hopes of immor- 
tality shine out brightly and beautifully. In short, all, 
yes, all that man can want, or desire, or hope, to 
render his state here happy, beyond description happy, 
and to secure him a safe and welcome admission into 
the kingdom of glory, is found in this one blessed 
volume. But do we prize it as we ought — or is it less to 



268 

us than the light, airy and inconstant trifles of a sickly 
hour? If we have not taken it to our hearts, and 
pressed it to our lips, and journeyed by its light, and 
ensured its smiles and favor, — in the dark day of ad- 
versity, and in the view of death, we shall find our- 
selves condemned, full of the bitterest regrets, destitute 
of true consolation, and shall turn to its long neglected 
pages with a mournful apprehension that we are un- 
done forever. 



THE MINISTERIAL CHARACTER. 

The minister of Jesus Christ, who would be truly 
acceptable to the people of his charge, an honor to 
the cause of God, and a blessing to the world, should 
be an experienced christian, a humble and sincere fol- 
lower of the meek and lowly Jesus. He must prefer 
his Bible to all other books, and the system of divinity 
taught in it to every other system. He should be 
honest, dignified, independent, free from the imputation 
of immorality, ignorance, or superstition. He should 
possess simplicity of character, that he may be an 
ensample to others ; firm — unmoved — not driven about 
by every wind of doctrine. A knowledge of all dis- 
putable points in every religious creed, and an ac- 
quaintance with mankind, are absolutely necessary lest 
he should be off his guard when assaulted, or if armed 
and on the watch, he should be tempted to insult his 



269 

foe instead of honorably defending simply the interests 
of truth. He should be intimately acquainted with him- 
self, otherwise he may overrate his powers and talents, 
and fall into the condemnation of Satan. Above every 
thing else, because without it every other talent will 
be an instrument of ruin, he must have a flaming love 
for the glory of God and the welfare of mankind, and 
count all things else but loss, comparatively, for the 
excellency of winning souls to Christ. 



THE WORLD. 



The world is a formidable foe to the christian, be- 
cause of its fascinating and seductive appearance. 
Its allurements, enchantments and painted baubles, 
catch the eye, gratify the palate, and please the im- 
agination. The serpent's blandishments are put forth 
only to attract the unwary traveller to his ruin. — So 
the world, invites but to destroy, kisses only to betray, 
and embraces like the assassin, to make more sure the 
murderous stab. The honors and the riches of the 
world are calculated to mislead the christian warrior 
from his high vocation. They wind themselves around 
the heart, become almost necessary to his existence, 
and shut out God and heaven from his view. High 
sounding titles, splendid establishments, immense rev- 
enues, literary honors and popular commendation, damp 
the zeal and clip the wings of the heavenly aspirant 
23* 



270 

after the mind that was in Jesus. All these things 
may not be deemed absolutely incompatible with a 
religious life, but they are certainly dangerous com- 
panions, and few there are, who entirely escape from 
the snares which they lay for the soul. The christian 
should ever be on the alert to grapple with this foe, 
subdue its domineering influence, and keep it in due 
subjection. Nothing less than a firm reliance on divine 
aid, and a sincere attachment to the cause of Christ, 
will enable us to overcome the world. 



THE DEATH BED. 



How sad and lonely the couch where the emaciated 
form is stretched, uncheered by the dawnings of eter- 
nal day ! Over the poor, unhappy, wasted clay, no 
starlight brightens, no cherub wings are hovering. 
In vain are the arms of friendship extended, the bo- 
som of love opened.- — The rays of hope may gleam a 
brief moment on the horizon of mind, but they are 
cold and cheerless. No vivifying influence passes 
over the feverish brain — no holy gust of ecstatic joy 
fills, supports, entrances the soul. Oh, it is hard dying, 
when the consolations of religion are wanting — when 
the past, the present, the future bring in the dreadful 
sentence that all is lost, — when no uplifted arm makes 
strong the inner man while the outward man falls into 
ruins. But oh ! how soft the bed of death ! what easy, 



271 

pleasant dying, when the comfortable assurances of 
God's word are brought home to the stricken one in lan- 
guage that cannot be misunderstood. When the soul, 
feeling after the promises, clinging to the Rock of ages, 
and rising up in the strength of the Lord of hosts, 
grapples with the monster on ground consecrated by 
the Son of God, and prevails, and triumphs ! It is 
then that man looks upon the fallen pillars in which he 
had once gloried, with a smile, and beholds unmoved 
the crumbling tabernacle ; while new fledged, he breaks 
his bonds, and flies away to dip his pinions in the font 
of uncreated light. 



Sure the last end 



Of the good man is peace ! how calm his exit ! 
Night dews fall not more gently to the ground, 
Nor weary, worn out winds^expire so soft." 



A PORTRAIT. 



Look at the bloated figure of the professed voluptu- 
ary, even in his youth. Where are those intellectual 
powers that once rendered him the ornament of so- 
ciety ? They withered and decayed when he forsook 
the path of virtue, and mocked alike the admonitions 
of heaven, and the monitory voice of conscience. In 
the prime of life he has the appearance and infirmities 
of old age. His hand is already palsied and he can 
scarcely lift to his lips the sparkling cup in which he 



272 

takes his supreme delight. He is now rendered inca- 
pable of performing the social and relative duties of 
life. He may have been a high minded, intelligent 
citizen, on whom his country turned a confiding look. 
But he has rendered himself incapable of legislating in 
her halls or counselling in her cabinet. Sin has ruined 
him — despoiled him of his fairest jewels, and left him 
a ruined man, almost like Lucifer, never to hope again. 
The finer sensibilities of the soul are dead ; alive only 
to self gratification and self degradation, he becomes a 
common nuisance — a disgrace to society, an emblem 
of misery and wretchedness. Is he a father ? his un- 
fortunate children soon experience the dreadful conse- 
quences of his thoughtless behavior. The partner of 
his joys and sorrows is cruelly neglected, abused and 
broken spirited, — the dear pledges of their early love 
forgotten, their education suffers loss, their morals are 
destroyed, and the foundation laid in their young and 
inexperienced hearts for a course similar to the horrible 
example continually before their eyes. Has he pa- 
rents . ? Perhaps his mother is a widow, and he her 
only son, her only stay and support. Poor wretch ! 
and will he stab the heart which throbs to embrace 
hi m — plant thorns in the bosom that would be his pil- 
low, his home ? O horrible ! What — rob the poor 
widow of her last, her only joy ! Deprive her of the 
staff with which she expected to have, trodden the last 
stage of her wearisome pilgrimage upon earth ! Trace 
another and a deeper furrow on her time worn cheek ; 
press the tear of sorrow from her hollow eyes ; dash 
the cup of mercy from her shrivelled lip — monstrous ! 



273 

O, how many parents are crushed to the earth by 
their wicked children, and sink to an untimely grave, 
their hearts rung with grief and agony by the impru- 
dence and madness of the youth they once dpated 
upon, and fondled within their arms. 



THE GLORY OF GOD. 

Jacob at Peniel, and Gideon under the oak, when 
they beheld only some faint glimmerings of the divine 
majesty, expressed themselves alarmed and ashamed. 
Wo is me, for I am undone, for mine eyes have seen 
the King, the Lord of hosts. The law was proclaimed 
in thunder and lightning ; circumstances of pomp and 
splendor attended its annunciation, but the Deity re- 
mained in thick darkness. His will was announced, 
but his peculiar glory was not revealed. Go not up, 
said he, into the mount, — no, nor touch the border of 
it, lest ye perish. When the affrighted Israelites saw 
but a few rays of his glory on the face of Moses, they 
were dazzled with their brightness, and could not en- 
dure the sight without the interposition of a veil. A 
glimpse of the divine glory overpowered Peter on the 
mount of transfiguration — -and no wonder. Heaven is 
God's throne and the earth only his footstool ; the one 
is the holy of holies, the other the outer court of his 
temple. The cherubim and seraphim veil their faces 
in his presence, and are not able to pierce through the 



274 

resplendent majesty by which he is irradiated. And 
if the Eternal is incomprehensible to the highest orders 
of intelligent beings ; if they cannot look and live, what 
hopes should we have of arriving at any just concep- 
tions of the divine glory. A voice from the most holy 
place says to us, — what Christ said to Mary at the 
sepulchre, — touch me not. 



RELIANCE ON GOD. 



I will look unto the Lord ; I will wait for the God of niy salvation ; 
my God will hear me. 

The prophet, under the influence of divine inspira- 
tion, fixes an intense gaze upon the Lord, believing 
that he is the rewarder of all them who diligently seek 
him. He feels sensible of his weakness and inability 
to accomplish any thing of himself. Abstracted from 
men and means, he is lifted above the world, and, 
piercing the impalpable veil, rises to contemplations of 
a purely celestial nature. He looks into the eternal 
world with astonishment, with admiration, and love. 
What would est thou have me to do ? is the spontaneous 
questioning of his heart. Speak, O Lord, for thy 
servant heareth, is his language. He cries out, like 
Thomas, convinced and overwhelmed with the gran- 
deur of his conceptions, my Lord and my God ! 

The prophet waits for the God of his salvation. 



275 

Having fixed his eyes upon the elevated and inimitable 
perfections of Deity, he patiently waits, full of expec- 
tancy and desire. His mind reaches away beyond the 
everlasting hills. Arriving upon the confines of the 
better world, the enraptured one awaits the heavenly 
anointing. 

The prophet's faith triumphs over every difficulty. 
My God will hear me, is his spirited and confident 
conclusion. My God — his words are strong, full of 
assurance ; they are highly expressive of the con- 
firmed character of his faith. It wavers not. Deeply 
founded in the knowledge he had obtained of the un- 
changeableness and faithfulness of his God, he resolves 
to look to him only, patiently to await his coming, 
and implicitly believe, without wavering, the word of 
promise. 



THE CHANGE OF WORLDS. 

" Though I walk through the gloomy vale, 
Where death and all its terrors are, 
My heart and hope shall never fail, 
For God my shepherd's with me there." 

The shafts of death fall thick around us, and this 
charming world, like the field of strife, is strewed with 
the dead and the dying. The mourners go about the 
streets ; they follow the young, the lovely, the beauti- 
ful, and the good, to their long home — the cold and 



276 

silent grave. The mournful knell chimes to their 
measured pace, and mingles its sepulchral tones with 
the burst of sorrow. But in all the circumstances of 
wo, attendant on the departure of those we love from 
the busy scenes of life, there is, to the christian, much 
consolation, when he feels assured that they have wit- 
nessed a good confession. Seeing they have escaped 
the storms and billows of life's tempestuous sea, and 
conscious that they are safe in the port of endless bliss, 
where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary 
are forever at rest, we feel resigned — knowing that 
our loss is their infinite gain. Indeed, we rejoice, 
rather than mourn ; for truly our separation will be 
but a very short one, and our meeting with happy 
connexions, O, how joyful ! Then shall we breathe 
our native air, taste the fruit of that delightful clime 
where all is fertile, and rich, and fragrant. Among 
the many evidences of the power of Christianity no- 
thing can be more convincing than the last hours of a 
dying saint who bears a bright testimony to the truth 
of its doctrines. What a sublime scene ! Behold 
him on the margin of the river, wrapped about with 
the garments of salvation, and preparing to step into its 
cold waters. He enters, singing as he goes. The 
ministering angels pilot him over. He gains the op- 
posite shore. Sister spirits welcome him home. He 
joins the celestial company. He mounts, he flies, he 
soars. He reaches his eternal home. He is forever 
at rest. 



"\ 



277 

♦CHRISTIAN COURAGE. 

None of these things move me. 

The history of the apostle Paul illustrates the beauty 
of an entire reliance on the divine will. The calm 
spirit of religion soothed his mind and animated his 
language. The passions of the soul, its secret work- 
ings, were conspicuously displayed by his unrivalled 
pen. He appeared to anticipate the horrors that awaited 
his arrival at Jerusalem with composure. The pages 
of his itinerary had been too often blotted with the 
sorrows and sufferings attendant upon his reception at 
various other places, not to exhibit strong premonitions 
of what was in store for him there. And yet, he ex- 
claims with the undaunted spirit by which the martyr 
is characterised, none of these things move me. Ever 
since the persecution and death of Jesus, his followers 
have been opposed and persecuted, and to this day, 
persecutions attend the steps of every true follower of 
Christ. No cross, no crown — is still the motto on the 
christian's escutcheon. He who lives godly in Christ 
Jesus, must suffer persecution, — is the testimony of 
Scripture. 

The apostle Paul was a citizen of Tarsus, the capi- 
tal of Cilicia, of the tribe of Benjamin. He was edu- 
cated in the university for which that place was famous, 
and became distinguished for his knowledge in the lib- 
eral sciences. His studies were completed in Jerusa- 
lem, under Gamaliel, a doctor of eminence among the 
Jews. 

24 



278 

He soon commenced his career of glory, and en- 
tered the list a decided enemy to the religion of the 
cross. While journeying to Damascus, breathing out 
threatenings and slaughter against the Lord's anointed, 
he was arrested. — A light from heaven shone around him, 
unhorsed the vaunting persecutor, and unnerved his 
proud arm.-— He fell to the earth, and trembling, cried 
out, who art thou, Lord ; convinced and humbled, he 
sued for mercy, obtained forgiveness and became a 
champion of the religion he had once openly despised 
and rejected. 

Paul was a man of no common stamp. In the for- 
mation of his mind, nature fully atoned for the weak- 
ness of his external appearance. His literary acquire- 
ments were of a superior order. Aware of these ad- 
vantages, he flattered himself with the most brilliant 
success among his countrymen. But from the moment 
he associated himself with the fishermen of Galilee, all 
these high hopes vanished ; the clouds of adversity and 
of sorrow lowered on his path. His reputation was 
assailed — his good name cast away — the tongue of 
scandal consigned him to obloquy and contempt, and 
though he once appeared in the eyes of the world with- 
out a blemish, yet, in consequence of his attachment to 
the new religion, he became a by-w T ord, a term of re- 
proach, and his labors to promote the welfare of Zion, 
a never failing theme of animadversion and ridicule. 
There was also given him a thorn in the flesh. His 
brethren proved false to him ; many of his friends for- 
sook him ; his spiritual children did him much harm. 
In pain, in wretchedness, in fastings, in excessive and 



279 

laborious travels, through morasses, extensive and bar- 
ren wastes, over rugged mountains, burning sands and 
across rapid streams and rivers, oft times without a 
shelter, a home or friend, the bare ground his couch, 
a stone his pillow, and the blue expanse his canopy, 
frequently without food, or the common comforts and 
necessaries of life, he toiled in his master's cause. 

None of these things moved him. He had suffered 
persecutions unequalled, and was ready to suffer more. 
Conscious of the rectitude of his motives in promoting 
the cause of Christ, he appeals to his brethren, and 
declares that he is pure from the blood of all men. 
Having a conscience void of offence, he relies with 
implicit confidence in his God, clinging to his promises 
and casting the anchor of his hope within the veil. In 
all his trials, troubles and afflictions, the assistance he 
had received from heaven was wonderful. He had 
partaken largely of the divine influences, the consola- 
tions of the Holy Spirit, and was sustained by a firm, 
well grounded hope that could not be shaken. He 
knew that all these afflictions were but for a moment, 
and that after a few more wearisome days and wakeful 
nights, yonder portals would open wide, and shining 
hosts of bright, seraphic spirits, with loudest hallelujahs, 
would welcome him home. With this prospect before 
him, he heroically determined to persevere in the path 
of difficulty and danger. He had received his cre- 
dentials from a high source, and resolved to testify the 
gospel of the grace of God at all hazards, and to pro- 
ceed upon his glorious mission, unmindful of the pelt- 
ings of the pitiless storm, the jeers and scoffings of cruel 



2S0 

men, the roughness and dreariness of the way, or the 
voice of Caesar, which thundered curses in his hearing. 
The apostle was raised above the fear of death. His 
life, he declares, was not even dear unto him. In a 
short time after this noble expression of his entire de- 
votedness to the cause of Christ, he was beheaded 
under that unmerciful and bloodthirsty tyrant, Nero, 
only a hw years before the fall and destruction of Je- 
rusalem. He finished his course with joy and received 
from the hands of his enemies the glorious crown of 
martyrdom. 



THE DISSOLUTION. 



The heavens shall pass away with a great noise. 
Although studded with ten thousand brilliant gems, it 
will be rolled up like a parchment scroll ; its lofty swell- 
ing arch will break down, and all its lights be quenched 
forever. 

The elements shall melt with fervent heat. The 
principles of fire pervade the universe, and on many 
occasions it has already burst forth and given startling 
indications of a general and splendid conflagration ; but 
when the Almighty gives the word, it will no longer be 
confined to some insulated mountain—it will meet the 
eye in grandeur terrible and overwhelming from every 
quarter of the horizon. The drops of the morning 
dew will no longer fall in refreshing showers upon the 



281 

earth ; in their stead will descend the floods of liquid 
flame to nourish the fires of the last conflagration. The 
whole earth will form one grand scene of ruin. The 
attractions of particles, the forces of repulsion and 
gravitation will be suddenly destroyed. The towering 
mountains, whose summits are frosted with eternal 
snows and veiled with misty clouds — those land marks 
of time which have breasted the storms of ages, will 
totter on their bases, and mingle in the general ruin. 

The beauties of nature will then be blasted. Sea- 
sons will revolve no more. The woods and groves 
shall no longer be vocal with the warbling of the feath- 
ered songsters. Disrobed of all its charms, this fair 
and beautiful world will become the sport of raving ele- 
ments, and fail in the mighty conflict. 

The earth and all that is therein shall be burned up. 
All the works of art — the utmost efforts of human 
industry — stupendous fortresses— lordly edifices — the 
proud mausoleum — triumphal arches — towering pyra- 
mids- — monumental pillars — the statues of warriors and 
statesmen,- — all that is engaging to worldly minded men, 
shall fail from the earth. 

When all these shall be dissolved, the trumpet of the 
Gospel will no more be heard in Zion — her earthly 
mountain will be forsaken — her altars thrown down- — 
her temples destroyed. Judah's fountain will be sealed 
up, and the river of life cease to flow for the healing of 
the nations. 

24* 



282 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

The royal Psalmist was deeply convinced of his 
need of the Spirit's teaching when he said, open thou 
mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of 
thy law. Teach me thy statutes ; make me to under- 
stand the way of thy precepts. Our Lord, in the sim- 
ple but cutting language of truth, enforced the same 
doctrine upon Nicodemus, in his memorable conversa- 
tion with that expounder of the law. The ruler's 
ignorance is easily accounted for, on the ground of his 
having never been acquainted with the spirituality and 
beauty of the holy Scriptures. The natural man, says 
Paul, receiveth not the things of God, for they are 
foolishness to him, neither can he know them, for they 
are spiritually discerned. In his letter to the Ephe- 
sians be prays, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the Father of glory, may give unto them the spirit of 
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The 
eyes of their understanding being enlightened ; that 
they may know what is the hope of his calling, and 
what the riches of his inheritance in the saints, and what 
is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward 
who believe, according to the working of his mighty 
power. 

The history of the Jewish nation is one continued 
series of evidences in favor of the doctrine we are at- 
tempting to illustrate. The true Shekinab was not 
discerned by them even in their most solemn assem- 
blies ; and when they seemed most engaged in their 
ceremonial worship and religious observances, the one 



283 

thing needful was still lacking. The Son of God, 
although he appeared among them in the fulness of 
time, according to the prophets, and at the precise 
moment when the whole world anticipated his coming, 
working miracles and performing signs and wonders 
daily before their eyes, failed in rousing them to a 
realizing sense of their need of something more than 
the mere naked form of religion. 

The wise Greeks mocked Paul and ridiculed the 
resurrection of the dead as an absurdity. Their 
character and conduct in regard to religious matters 
prove most satisfactorily the necessity of divine as- 
sistance in order to understand revealed truths. The 
fathers of the Greek philosophy had obtained informa- 
tion from the books of Moses which should have taught 
them better. But where shall we find unassisted rea- 
son arriving at certainty in these high and holy things ? 
Can we fathom that which is fathomless ? Who by 
searching can find out God ? What mortal arm can 
reach his high abode ? The Deity is beyond our 
reach — our knowledge is circumscribed and imperfect. 
We are poor atoms, scarcely visible in the wonderful 
variety of God's works, lost in the splendor and mag- 
nitude of the whole ; poor insignificant worms, tread- 
ing the dust and dwelling in tabernacles of clay. How 
should we expect to know any thing unless it should 
be taught us of God ? 

The disciples of Jesus, even while their beloved 
Lord was yet with them, were ignorant and unbe- 
lieving. His character and offices, his kingdom and 
work — they could not comprehend until their under- 



284 

standings were opened. What an eminent example 
among many is the apostle of the Gentiles, who from 
a bold persecutor, ignorant of the spirituality of God's 
holy law, full of persecuting zeal, became sensible of 
his darkness, blindness and need of divine teaching. 
The conversion of La Harpe, a name high in the 
ranks of modern infidelity, is a flaming proof of the 
necessity and the power of the Holy Spirit's influence 
and- teaching. I might add that of him upon the 
cross, — the robber and reviler, suddenly changed by a 
look from that holy one whom he had mocked. 

The holy Scriptures cannot be understood without 
divine teaching. They were given by inspiration. 
Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost. Although they, are intended for our in- 
struction in righteousness, yet there are certain ways 
by which alone they can be approached to be under- 
stood, appreciated and felt. The reason is obvious ; 
being wholly unlike all human compositions, ordinary 
rules cannot reach them. By the light of reason we 
may solve difficult and knotty questions, unravel mys- 
teries in the kingdoms of nature and of science, be- 
come intimately acquainted with the laws by which 
they are governed, and the principles in which these 
laws are founded. But on the subject of the holy 
Scriptures the highest flights of genius, the towering 
grandeur of superior intellect, should sink deep into the 
abysses of their own nothingness. The Bible, like the 
eagle in its flight, mocks alike the eye of impertinent 
curiosity, and the archer's skill. Conjecture often 
supplies the place of certainty, and poor, proud man, 



285 

confounded, bewildered — instead of owning the divinity 
of the arm that has stayed his adventurous footsteps, 
thwarted his presumptuous gaze, oftentimes puts on 
haughty looks of defiance and scorn. But he who 
comes in the appointed way, and falls prostrate before 
the God of the Bible, rejects every proud boast, and 
humbly implores the aid of the Holy Spirit, he will 
arise with a mind resuscitated and enlarged, prepared 
to enter into the deep things of God, and refresh him- 
self at the waters of this holy spring. The dews of 
heavenly grace will fall gently and in abundance upon 
his heart. A light from the holy place will guide him 
through every dark and devious path ; the clouds of 
ignorance will break away, and the deep toned thun- 
ders of remorse and guilt cease to summon justice to 
her work. 

The sacred treasures of the Gospel cannot be ob- 
tained without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. If 
we have not the spirit of Christ we are none of his. 
How dreadful to be an alien from the kingdom of his 
grace and love ! But be of good cheer. The voice 
of mercy sounds from afar ; it falls like the music of 
angels upon our world. The spirit of truth is come, 
he will guide us through every maze and illumine 
every dark place. If any lack wisdom, ask of 
God and it shall be given. Ask and it shall be given 
you ; seek and you shall find ; knock and it shall be 
opened to you. How infinitely kind and condescend- 
ing is the Almighty, who is so willing to guide and 
teach his poor sinful creatures. Good and upright is 
the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way. 



286 



And if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto 
your children, how much more will your Heavenly 
Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him. 



THE MIND. 



The mind of man, when nicely scrutinized, exhibits 
the most astonishing phenomena. It possesses the fea- 
tures of a divine origin. How wonderful and multi- 
plied are its powers ! The understanding perceives, 
the will rules, the operations of the mind develope a 
variety of emotions, generally termed affections, or 
passions. The understanding is intimately connected 
with thought, imagination, memory and conscience. 
The will, unites with choice, desire and determination ; 
and in the train of the affections and passions flow love 
and hatred, joy and grief, meekness, and hope, and 
fear. All these, though we should pronounce them, 
at the first glance, separate and distinct powers or fac- 
ulties of the soul independent of each other, are but 
one simple, uncompounded principle, putting forth its 
energies in a variety of forms. 



THE WARNING VOICE. 



It is heard over all the earth. It rolls conviction on 
the conscience and burdens the soul with grief, filling 



287 

the mind with dreadful forebodings of ill. It is the 
voice of heaven, and is a merciful indication of the 
great interest the Almighty feels for man. At times, 
its hollow and deep tones pierce through the well 
guarded palace, and are heard amid the roar of mirth 
and the voice of song. Again it speaks in a still, sub- 
dued and mellow tone, sweeping over the chords of the 
heart, like the soft breathings of the iEolian harp, awak- 
ening memory from her slumbers. It is never silent. 
Its purpose is always the same. It is in vain to shut 
our ears against its counsel ; for it enters unbidden 
every avenue of the human heart, and is heard clearly 
and distinctly in its deepest recesses, when no sound 
reacheth the outer man. It has the power to force 
itself on our most retired moments. We cannot escape 
its all pervading presence, or pretend ignorance of its 
object and end. Whether we sleep or wake, however 
we may be employed by night or day, it is ever thun- 
dering in our ears the words of truth — loudly, faithfully 
and affectionately warning us to flee the wrath to come. 



THE MINISTERS OF CHRIST. 

The holy Scriptures describe the office and duty of 
the ministers of Jesus Christ by a great variety of 
strong and significant metaphors — all pointing out with 
clearness the end and design of the christian ministry 
and its necessary qualifications. 



288 

Ministers are the lights of the world. Before them 
the dark night of delusion rolls away. In their pre- 
sence the light of truth springs up, and knowledge in- 
creases. On the path to happiness and heaven they 
pour the sunshine of the Gospel, and array all the doc- 
trines of the cross in such beautiful order that many 
are induced to fall in love with them, and turn into the 
way everlasting. They spread themselves over the 
enthralled and benighted world, becoming bright beams 
to the disconsolate, the shipwrecked of hope, and the 
dying. 

They are stars of magnitude and of glory, shining 
clearly and steadily in the moral firmament. 

They are stewards of the mysteries of God. It is 
required of all stewards that they be skilful and faith- 
ful in the discharge of their office. The truths of di- 
vine revelation, the ordinances of the sanctuary, are 
concerns of no small moment. They are to exhibit 
the ground and necessity of an evangelical belief, and 
the legitimate connexion that exists between the faith 
of the Gospel, unprejudiced reason, and sound morality, 
in promoting the best interests of man here and here- 
after. They are faithful — which implies truth, dili- 
gence and integrity. They are models of truth ; steady 
adherents to the religion of Jesus, stern patriots of the 
kingdom of the Redeemer — seeing that they must 
shortly give an account of their stewardship before as- 
sembled millions. 



289 



THE RETURN OF SPRING. 

" Sweet is the breath of spring, divinely sweet, 
With charm of earliest birds." 

This is the sweetest season of the whole year. 
There is a joyful elasticity about it, which cheers and 
invigorates the mind. When it first makes its visit, if 
the body is too sensitive to its lively touches, and 
droops a moment under its influence, it is but to pre- 
pare itself to meet the glowing summer which treads 
upon its fairy footsteps. There are but few who do 
not feel, amidst all the luxurious tresses with which 
spring wreathes her bright, fair brows, an unusual pres- 
sure, — arising from the sudden unbracing of the consti- 
tution, which undergoes nearly as great a change as the 
vegetable kingdom itself. But the system soon regains 
its natural tone, and rises up out of its feebleness to 
drink in the nectar of the gentle zephyrs, loaded with 
ambrosial sweets. 

The return of spring awakens universal nature from 
her dreary sleep, and animates and gives a voice to all 
her works. It is a fresh cause of gratitude, and should 
elevate the soul and draw out the affections to that 
great and good being, who conducts the seasons in. 
their rounds. Yes, our hearts should be lifted up to 
him whose bountiful hands have covered the earth 
with its green carpet, fringed it with a rich drapery, 
and enriched it with necessary food for man and beast. 
The earth is one of his palaces, spread out and fash- 
ioned by the great architect himself, to display his 
power and show his mercy. He has loaded every 
25 



290 

department of it with his richest gifts ; and above all, 
he has spread over it the broad banner of his love and 
benificence. 

But spring is not to last always ; summer's glories 
will soon blaze upon the earth to be succeeded by the 
soberness of autumn and the desolations of winter. 

But have we not a moral here ? Will not man 
himself be changed ? O yes, the spring tide of his 
days will roll away, and death, like a cruel ruffian, 
will wreak his vengeance on him. His beautiful and 
noble form, so firm and elevated, will fall beneath his 
powerful stroke, and mingle like the autumnal leaf 
with the cold earth. Yet even in this sad change 
there still is hope. There is a spirit in man, and the 
vivifying influence of the sun of righteousness will 
save it from the cold touch of icy fingers, and another 
and more glorious spring shall open on the disembo- 
died one — where perennial joys abide, where brilliant 
scenes are never darkened, and flowerets of the soft- 
est, purest dies are ever blooming, ever fair and 
sweet. 

" yes, there's a harbor of pleasant repose, 
Where joy ever carols, and spring ever blows ; 
A land from all sorrow and weariness free — 
A country, my Saviour, has promised to me." 



PRESUMPTION. 



The principal object of the greatest part of man- 
kind is gain — the gain of this world, not the treasures 
that are at God's right hand. Never satisfied, they 



291 

heap up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire 
of the streets, joining house to house and field to field. 
Their worldly engagements are so numerous and per- 
plexing, they can afford no time for reflection. The 
acts of piety and devotion, and the duties of religion, 
are postponed to a convenient season. The great 
Lord of all occupies no place in their affections ; — 
their thoughts never rise higher than the pelf of earth. 
Every plan they form is pronounced good, and, in 
imagination, the future is crowned with rich harvests— 
the fruits of their mercantile sagacity and prudent 
calculations ; while they enter in their own minds a 
general insurance against danger, change and death. 
When any of their waking dreams are realized, they 
audaciously attribute their success to their own skilful 
management. Their arrogance and presumption rise 
in proportion to their prosperity in business. Indeed, 
they regard every event in life as dependant on their 
own will. Like the Persian monarch, they look down 
upon the world as their humble servant, and consider 
its riches and honors as tributary only to their own 
imaginary importance. Such conduct is presumptu- 
ous ; it is a treason to the rights of heaven. It bears 
on its front the marks of the curse. It is an insult to 
the majesty of God. 



RURAL RETIREMENT. 



There are certain seasons when retirement from the 
world and its tormenting cares is not only pleasant but 



292 

beneficial. Holy men have, in every age, delighted 
in abstracting themselves from the gross pursuits of 
life, to converse with their own hearts, and acquaint 
themselves with the nature and end of their being. 
The shady and retired walk, the tufted hill, the bab- 
bling brook, have been visited by the contemplative 
and the religious, with feelings that accord with the 
aspirations of celestial spirits. The works of nature 
are a rich treasury on which we may draw without 
satiety or disgust. The sun shining in his strength, 
passing in majesty and glory through the heavens — the 
earth with its ever varying surface, reflecting the ar- 
dent blaze and tempering with its verdant green the 
too ardent ray — -the feathered choir in their glossy 
plumage, tinted with the richest colorings, filling the 
air with melodious warblings, — all these instruct and 
please. They cheer the humble and breathe conso- 
lation into the afflicted bosom. They are the lively 
emblems of the divine goodness- — they are types of 
beauty and grandeur. x As proofs of God's existence, 
they appeal with irresistable force and eloquence to 
the understanding and the heart. Although the vol- 
ume of nature is open to every rational and intelligent 
being, its bright pages teeming with interest and in- 
struction, yet many causes concur in blinding our eyes 
to the characters written there by a divine hand. Re- 
tirement for a season from the busy world will assist in 
comprehending them ; and when indulged with proper 
motives, is favorable to every social and endearing 
virtue. It is a good preparation for the exercise of 
the nobler affections of the mind. Tt refines the 



293 



grosser passions ; awakens sublime contemplations, and 
refines the whole man into a new and etherial mould. 



THE JUBILEE. 



" The year of jubilee is come ; 
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home." 

The year of jubilee was observed among the Jews 
every fiftieth year. The word jubilee, signifies the 
sounding of a trumpet. Notice was given of its ap- 
proach on the evening of atonement, and every Isra- 
elite was obliged to sound the trumpet nine times. The 
arrival of the jubilee produced an instantaneous emotion 
throughout Palestine and Judea. If an Israelite from 
necessity or any other cause had sold his property, the 
year of jubilee restored it to him, for the land, says 
the Lord, is mine, and if he had sold himself, he was 
made free in this year ; for, says God, they are my 
servants. When the joyful sound swept over Canaan 
announcing the jubilee, the doors of every prison flew 
open ; the poor captive was free, and the bondman 
set out for his native inheritance to enjoy liberty, 
plenty and peace. Their privileges, their property, 
their reputation, their standing among their brethren 
and kindred, their all, were restored to them without 
fee, favor or reward. It was a joyful season. Trum- 
pets sounding from the tops of houses and in all the 

public places — the daughters of music swelling the 

25* 



294 

universal shout of praise with harp and tabret, timbrel 
and dance ; — fetters falling off, dungeon doors flying 
open and poor prisoners rushing forth, clapping their 
hands and rejoicing. The streets were thronged with 
the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind, bound- 
ing along and almost frantic with joy. The highways 
were crowded with venerable parents, and little child- 
ren, — husbands and wives, friends and relations running 
into each other's arms, while the air resounded with 
the songs of the delivered, and the acclamations of the 
multitude. What a striking and beautiful illustration 
of the blessed effects of sounding the Gospel trumpet. 



THE RESTING PLACE. 

So man lieth down, and riseth not : till the heavens be no more, 
they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. 

However dark and disconsolate the path of life may 
have been to any man, there is an hour of deep and 
quiet repose at hand, when the body may sink into a 
dreamless slumber. Let not the imagination be start- 
led, if this resting place, instead of the bed of down, 
shall be the bed of gravel, or the rocky pavement of 
the tomb. No matter where the poor remains of 
wearied man may lie, the repose is deep and undis- 
turbed — the sorrowful bosom heaves no more — the 
tears are dried up in their fountains — the aching head 
is at rest, and the stormy waves of earthly tribulation 



295 

roll unheeded over the place of graves. Let armies 
engage in fearful conflict over the very bosoms of the 
pale nations of the dead, not one of the sleepers shall 
heed the spirit stirring trumpet, or respond to the 
rending shouts of victory. 

How quiet these countless millions slumber in the 
arms of their mother earth. The voice of the thunder 
shall not awake them ; the loud cry of the elements — 
the winds, the waves, nor even the giant tread of the 
earthquake, as it overpasses the continents, shall be 
able to cause any inquietude in the chambers of death. 
They shall rest securely through ages ; empires shall 
rise and fall ; the bright millennium shall come and 
pass away ; the last great battle shall be fought ; and 
then a silver voice, at first but just heard, shall rise to 
a tempest tone, and penetrate the voiceless grave. 
For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall hear 
his voice. 



THE MINISTER S CONSOLATION. 

There is one man in society who willingly renounces 
the ease, the honors, the affluence of life, and spends 
his days in thankless labors, and his nights in pale 
watchings. Let an impartial observer note his move- 
ments, reason upon his motives of action, and the re- 
sults at which he will arrive will often be contradictory 
and ever surprising. Can it be popularity at which he 
aims ? He does not walk in the path of those whose 
absorbing business it is to rise on the breath of popular 



296 

favor to some station of permanent honor. He con- 
tinually employs himself in laying sin at the doors of a 
vast proportion of his friends and associates ; his flat- 
teries are not thrown around society like a net to 
entangle the unwary ; he deals in matter of fact asser- 
tions, and is continually uncovering motives in the hu- 
man heart at which man must blush and hide himself 
with shame ; pride meets a severe reproof in the mild 
eye that detects its most gentle swellings ; wickedness 
trembles under the searching glance which seems to 
forestall its doom ; the human heart lies naked before 
a fellow mortal ; and a tender, melancholy, yet up- 
braiding voice, charges innocent blood upon the self- 
righteous. Continually the accusation rises — ye have 
slain your Lord — ye have poured out the pure blood 
of the lovely Jesus, like water upon the earth ; and 
yet even this very blood, shed by your wicked hands, 
speaketh better things than the blood of your fellow 
man, the murdered Abel. 

This certainly is no way to obtain the applause of 
men. The ambitious man, who steals the hearts of 
the multitude that he may place his foot upon their 
necks, knows of a better way to accomplish his designs 
than to lay the heavy charge of innocent blood against 
them, and press home its guilt with the loud roar of a 
law, broken and raising its stern voice to heaven for 
vengeance. 

It cannot be wealth that the minister of the Gospel 
seeks for in his deep researches. He is not found on 
the exchange, where merchants congregate, and where 
fortunes are bought and sold. His bills of exchange 



297 

are pleadings in secret with the same Being who hears £, , 
the shrill cry of the mountain raven, and the roar of ' ' "* 
the younglion. His riches are those gleams of hope 
which break into his soul in the stillness of night ; they 
come like streamers of light over a wide waste of shad- 
ows, and leave a deep feeling of immortality in the 
weaned heart that receives them. But no boisterous 
emotion of joy breaks out in thunders where these rays 
of glory concentrate. The loud hallelujah is reserved 
for the music of the upper world where it shall roll, 
like the voice of many waters, along the hills and vales 
of eternity. 

It cannot be earthly pleasure after which he aspires. 
For his temperate habits and disregard of the light 
trifles of time prove that he has other objects supreme 
in his affections. Capable of entering with unbounded 
alacrity into the every day pursuits of this life, his 
thoughts seem to wander beyond them, and fasten 
their strong grasp upon unseen excellence. The 
dance and the viol are accompaniments of earthly 
pleasure ; the loud, thoughtless laugh, the jeer, the 
song, are reverberated through the halls of merriment. 
But the silent study is the minister's levee room, and 
he holds audience with those who have bitter sorrows 
to disclose. 

Thus is sketched, with a feeble hand, the picture 
of a minister's deprivations — and, lest the shadowings 
of the pencil might give deep clouds to the prospect, 
no colorings of personal suffering have been added ; 
no envenomed shafts of a slanderous tongue fastened 
in the recesses of a sensitive heart ; no betraying 



298 

kisses ; no hungerings, thirstings, revilings, or seasons 
of spiritual destitution have been portrayed ; — for sure- 
ly these are not a minister's consolations. 

But his comforts break out. like stars upon the gloom 
of night. Where a friend is bowed down under the 
parental discipline of his Heavenly Father, and kisses 
the rod of his chastisement, the minister sees the bles- 
sed effects of the correction, and rejoices that a bright 
proof of sonship is vouchsafed to a brother — for the 
Lord chastens those whom he loveth. His consola- 
tions arise oftentimes where the hopes of the world 
expire — they spring up in the pale chambers of death, 
and are doubled when the spirit, long tossed on the 
deceitful seas of life, comes gallantly into a harbor of 
glorious rest. Then, when mourning throws its sable 
over thousands, with his tears a joy kindles in the min- 
ister's heart, that one more soul is wafted from a rebel- 
lious world to a land of loud rejoicing and perfect 
peace. 

The minister has a source of great consolation in 
the promises of God. He has, it is true, renounced 
the nobility and titles of earth, yet it is that he may 
wear a crown when this earth has passed away ; he 
leaves a lesser for a greater good ; he serves that he 
may reign. Taking God at his word, he drinks deep 
draughts of consolation at the fountain of the promises, 
and, in prospect, enjoys the happiness to come. 

When the Spirit of God moves over the spiritual 
wastes of the world, and the vale of death shakes with 
the sound of reanimating life, the cup of a minister's 
happiness is running over. When political strife, the 



299 

emulation of great minds, and the untiring energies of 
business are suspended by the anxious inquiry — what 
must we do to be saved — his heart leaps for joy, and 
he is happy, thrice happy in his low estate, to handle 
the good word of God, and assort the jewels of eternal 
life. 

But the most precious moments of his consolation 
on earth come when the sands of his life are num- 
bered, and he experiences the truth of the blessed 
doctrines which he has spent his days in promulgating. 
The golden bowl breaks at the cistern, and the silver 
cord is loosened ; yet the earthly becomes heavenly 
even before eternity lifts the veil. It is a remark, 
founded in extensive experience, that a peculiar bles- 
sedness rests upon the last hours of faithful ministers, 
collectively considered — and a far greater amount of 
composure and deep religious peace is enjoyed by 
them than by the members of any other profession. 

Should the infidel ask, with a sneer, what will a 
minister accomplish by all his holy living ? — the ans- 
wer would be — he ensures his happy dying ; he meets 
a scene with calmness, joy and hope, even, at which 
the most haughty infidel turns pale and feels a deep 
inquietude. Yet this is not a selfish joy — an indi- 
vidual feeling of rescue merely ; but a thousand asso- 
ciations centre around this dying triumph, and lengthen 
the lines of his happiness. Like Payson, his gushing 
affections are poured out upon his blessed Saviour, 
and carry with them all whom his God has given him. 
He has passed through this vale of tears, and imparted 
purity to every mind with which he came in contact. 



300 

Associated with the most holy feelings, a thousand 
hearts — some on earth and some in heaven — bear his 
cherished remembrance ; and his voice comes up with 
the sinner's midnight musings. All this he feels, and 
although the wave of time through which he has pas- 
sed shall soon close over him ; yet the weight of his 
talents, the flame of his zeal and the purity of his 
purpose, have parted the waters before him, and the 
world has acknowledged the weight of his influence. 

Perhaps too, in the gloomy unfoldings of the cloud 
that hangs over the pale realms of death, a lovely, 
seraph face is seen, and the strong flashings of a 
crown in which are many stars ; and across the vexed 
horizon, the arch of God's promise shines with the 
rainbow colors of immortality, and ever and anon, 
ravishing symphonies wander from the paradise of 
song and fall upon his failing organs. The dark grave 
into which he enters is perfumed with the breath of 
Jesus ; and the minister lies down in hope of a glo- 
rious immortality. 

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of man, the things which God 
hath prepared for them that love him. 



